Life of The Landgraabs
by BIbupp
Summary: This is the story of my life, living in the "peaceful" town of Sunset Valley (with all the melodramas of life). There is a feud in this town with the Altos and the Landgraabs. I am a Landgraab, Malcolm Landgraab and I am the next heir for my family. So will I continue it on for generations or will I just run away from it all? Based on The Sims 3.
1. Childhood

**The Life of The Landgraabs Part by BIbupp**

**Note: **Some of the older chapters of this story are currently been updated for spelling and grammatical mistakes and will be slightly rewritten to make sense and add details, if you spot any mistakes, please feel free to PM me.

_(Disclaimer: This story is supposed to follow the time of The Sims 3 but I made a change and made Claire Ursine's unborn child well "she" in the story is at child stage when she in the game she is not born. Most Sims in this story are either created by EA or Myself. Sorry for any inconveniences caused.) _

**Prologue**

This is my story of me, Malcolm Landgraab living in the peaceful, always sunny town of Sunset Valley. I'm only a kid and my mother wants me to be the next heir or I do I want to be like my father and want to be a doctor?

**Chapter 1: Childhood**

Ah, Sunset Valley, a beautiful town, with a modern 24/7 gym, a nice long beach, a big central park, a town hall that pre dates before I was here, the Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital, the Pleasant Rest Graveyard, the swimming pools, the stadium and other things that make Sunset Valley a great place to live in. Sadly, one thing spoils it for me, my family. The Landgraabs are my father Geoffrey Landgraab, my mother Nancy Landgraab and me Malcolm Landgraab.

It is strange sometimes that as I see my mother Nancy got out binoculars and watch/look/stare at the Alto Mansion and that was today... Father suddenly came home,

"How was work at the Hospital, Dad?" He replied with,

"It was fine, fine Malcolm." There wasn't much conversation after that.

Though my father is a little bit of a nerd and my mother is pretentious snob, how could they still be together? The problem is that there is a feud against the Landgraabs and the Altos. The Landgraabs (us) are old money while the Altos are new money. I wonder if the town has to join sides.

Being 12 years old nearly thirteen is tough but I am lucky that I have some or one really good friend, Claire Ursine, I know that Claire is also her mother's name but she doesn't know who her father is. She is very secretive about this though and her red hair, the freckles on her face are kind of cute and her chubbiness suits her well.

Even though being a blonde haired boy with nerdy glasses, which come in the bloodline as both of my parents' hair, is the same blonde colour too. As childhood for me is coming to an end, there are many things I'll always remember; playing at central park with Claire on the jungle gym, the swings set, the see-saw, and playing dress ups; I being the astronaut of course, riding on the spring riders/jumps, water slides, sandcastles and my awesome Sci-Fi tree house which is now taken down. The school field trips were also fun. When people think of childhood, they think of imagination, curiosity and fun but really down to it, it is more complex than any teenager, adult or elder could ever imagine.

It is another cycle of life from infant, toddler, childhood and adolescence, young adult, adult and elder.

. . .

Luckily today was a Saturday and Claire wanted me to go to her house because she had already seen my estate so she wanted to show me hers. Claire's place is a small two-storey by the beach, with white wooden walling on outside, it was supposedly based on the Victorian Style of architecture. There is a balcony and also a porch which is great for look out at the Sunset and beach. It was weird as it was the complete opposite to my estate. My estate has an arched driveway, big gates to enter, a hedge maze, two swimming pools, a lake with a statue, a huge kitchen, a huge bedroom, and other things. I am, was and still very lucky.

Though it is hard living in the highest echelon in the community, you don't get teased because everybody thinks you're rich, they think you've got it easy but they are wrong, very wrong. As I was at Claire's house, sitting on her uncomfortable cheap couch we were watching the television in fuzzy quality. An advertisement came on, it was about the fuzzy logic dishwasher, new and improved but we can't even buy it, what sort of advertisement was that?

We were watching the Action Channel on the Old Timey Tele TV.

"Look at how many robots the mad scientist has." Claire asked me.

"Yeah, I don't know how they are going to defeat them, Claire?" She shrugged.

Both of us were going to be teenagers very soon and we are going to have responsibilities and the pressure of growing up. Every time I think about this, I have sudden but relaxing flashbacks of my past but I have to look onto the future and I don't know what holds, it is progressive, you play it out. You can't totally pre-determine someone's future.

"Malcolm, daylight's going to end; you better ring your parents and go home."

"Your right, I'll do it now, oh, can I use your phone?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Ah, Hi Mother, can you please pick me up from Claire's house?"

"Sure Malcolm, I can pick you up"

"Thanks, Bye."

"Bye."

The maroon, V16-powered VFN Kompensator arrived with Mother ready to take me home.

"Bye Claire."

"Bye Malcolm."

I quickly entered the maroon car, "Hi, Mum."

"Hi, darling, how was your day?"

"It was alright."

After the awkward conversation, everything was quiet, I was still angry with my mother trying to force Landgraab Industries down my throat. We soon arrived at the brown, magnificent mansion, glowing in the hot Sunset Valley sun.

. . .

Tomorrow was a school day and I realised that I have do some homework. I ran up the staircase, turned to the right side of the hallway and into my yellow and green bedroom with a fireplace, chemistry set, computer, TV and console. Then after seeing all these gadgets I own, I finally realise that I am again lucky compared to everyone else.

For the homework all I had to do was answer some, in my opinion very simple questions on the blue homework book, which only took an hour. Until 8:30pm, I just played video games and our butler sent up some food for me, Lobster Thermidor, it was scrumptious.


	2. From Childhood To Now Being a Teenager

**Chapter 2: From Elementary School to Now Being a Teenager**

Today is a Monday and I hate Mondays. Already I am sick of school, I've had enough. As usual the yellow school bus arrived at 8:00 AM and it took me to school at approximately 8:30am and school starts at 9:00PM-3:00 PM, so it was half an hour early. 6 hours of dreaded school, some say that they're training us to go from elementary school to "High" school; all I think it is about to getting us ready for the future.

. . .

I like school at times and especially not today as nothing happened. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; school was all boring and nothing happened. It was just the same old classes with the same old teachers, with minimal effort required. Though there are some interesting kids in my class like Mortimer Goth, Bella Bachelor, something Alvi, I can't remember his first name, I think it is Miraj and, oh, Kaylynn Langerak with her black and white costume that looks like a maid's outfit. I think that is it.

I will miss elementary school and so will all the rest of my classmates including Claire who will also become a teenager. And so farewell Elementary school, though it is in the same school. The only problem to me was, that to all of us, it's important but to the school and teachers, there was no graduation party, no farewell speeches just expecting us to be here at school next week with different classes, topics and teachers.

. . .

Today is a Saturday and my birthday is today! In a few days it would be Claire's birthday and the other kids in my class with have theirs over the next few day too. I can't now believe that I am now a teenager, thirteen years old. My parents had a little birthday party, though my best friend, Claire wasn't present at the party as she was sick with the flu unfortunately. She still sent a present to me which was very kind of her, a true friend.

As now I am a teenager, I think big changes are going to happen in my life but it is the future. Every time I keep thinking about how old I am, I get flashbacks of all the good times I had as a child. Now that I am a teenager people still call me a child or look at these children. Why am I being assumed as being a child? I guess it's something I'll never really understand.

My funny parents sung happy birthday to me and made things feel a lot better. I got a few presents like the MultiTab 6000, some hobby magazines and Captain Starplanet Arcade Table, it was this year's top rated game, with intergalactic adventures and blasting aliens to pieces. These are awesome presents! These toys added more to my collection but I think will be using the MultiTab 6000 a lot and it costs §750 Simoleons! That's a lot of money but not for my parents, who own the Landgraab Industries Empire. There are dozens of products that they have made and own, for example, the ÜberVision Panoramic television, the 36" HiFi Plasmondo TV, oTron 200 Thinking Computer, XS 4258p Laptop, 85g Audio Explosion Stereo, Karaoke Explosion Machine, 4258g Alarm Clock and the super top secret, the Money Tree.

My mother bought some nice casual clothes also, but I don't know how good they'll look on me and then they gave me Claire's present... It was a book, 'Where's Bella by Alexander Goth.' I love going to the local library, there was also a card and it read, "Dear Malcolm, Hope you have a happy birthday from your friend. P.S, I want to see you ASAP." What did she want to see me about? Anyway it was a really nicely decorated card and seems to be made by her.

. . .

On Sunday, nothing much really important happened though I was excited playing with all my presents and playing with the wonderful MultiTab 6000 and playing lots and lots of social games, listening to tabcasts and reading books online, which is handy when on the go.

The Captain Starplanet Arcade Table was so much fun to play with, blasting aliens has never been this much fun, the story behind it was not lacklustre, it was riveting, I felt the sense of passion that the fictitious Captain Starplanet has. Too bad that Claire was still sick with the flu, so I'll wait until she gets better and then I can go and see her.

Sadly, on Monday is my first day of "High" school or "Secondary" school. The school is the same school I went to for "Elementary" school, the Community School of the Gifted, the name doesn't make complete sense as none of the students are really gifted, well maybe except me and a couple of others. I wonder what "High" school is going to be like, will it be crazy and different or organised and lots of hard work?


	3. The First Week of High School

**Chapter 3: The First Week of High School**

I couldn't believe the anticipation of going to "High" school I was feeling; I was scared but somehow was intrigued and I really wanted to go. Many questions and fears ran through my head. All these new faces, I'm going to be the new kids at the school, how will the other students treat me? My parents insisted on me on going to school, I had to go, to fulfil my wish, of going to school. As usual the school bus arrived to school 8:30 AM.

Sadly Claire wasn't there today she was still sick after the weekend of rest. Today's lessons was really an introduction about the history of the school, which we already knew about but they still liked shoving it down our throats, the lists of all our subjects and a brief overview, some subjects included; Simlish, Maths, PE, Geography and History, not just SimNation but the World and Science (I already knew about mixing chemical concoction from the chemistry set I played with as a child), a map of the school and showing us all the classrooms and then telling us about how this school is better than the boarding schools such as: LeFromage Art School, Smuggsworth Prep School, Dribbledine Sport Academy, School of Art & Peace and the Fort Starch Military School. Did I really care that this school is supposedly better than the other boarding schools? No! The funny thing was that it is all a gimmick, you don't pay a dime to go this school but for the other schools, up to §1,500 Simoleons!

During lunch time, Bella, Claire's friend, asked me where Claire was, I told her that she was sick. Mortimer then came up to me and asked me, "So how are you finding high school?"

I replied with, "Well it is different, the teachers are a lot stricter, they're not letting us off the hook anymore and they aren't as happy before too, their faces are much more grimmer than before, maybe it's the other students who give them grief but they are working in the Education career, not the first preference of most Sims who are looking for work."

Today I also made a new friend, Parker Prudence, his father Phoenix Prudence is a teacher here, they are originally from Twinbrook (and was a teacher there) but moved here for a more peaceful life after Mr Prudence realised he might be too old for a career in the Military.

He gets teased a lot, the typical, "Teacher's son", they think he gets special privileges but they are wrong and I think they do as well because they are jealous, well that's just in my eyes. But it soon ended after a day, when our differences were revealed.

. . .

At 2:30 PM, "High" school had finished, which unusual for us as school normally finishes at 3:00 PM, well who doesn't like an extra half hour in their day?

Mother was already there to pick me up in her maroon VFN Kompensator.

"Hi Mother." I told her as soon as I entered.

"Malcolm, how was your first day?" She asked.

"It was okay." I replied, trying to avoid the question.

"Okay?" She shouted, I hate when my mother asks this question, I just don't feel like telling her everything that happened in my day.

I gave up, I just answered the best way I could, "Well we were shown around the school, had an introduction on our classes, had recess, had lunch and now I'm in the car with you."

"The Details?" she asked curious, this was the reason specifically why I hated the previous question.

"There aren't really many details; it was actually quite boring but interesting learning about our new classes."

"Never mind we'll have this discussion at home." Mother dismissed in an annoyed tone. I instantly knew where this was going.

I eventually spilled the details; but it didn't seem to affect her mood with me. Only until I came home she cared because she gave me a stern lecture with the annoyed look still on her face.

. . .

The day after arrived Monday, hopefully Claire will be at school today! I was right; she had recovered from her sickness. I asked Claire about the message in the card.

I tell her, "Claire. You said you wanted to see me ASAP?"

"Um, well I did but this is not the greatest time," Claire explains.

I ask in an angered tone, "How isn't the start of school the best time?"

She didn't answer the question so I waited until lunchtime. If it was this important, she should have written that it would be told in private but I was still curious nevertheless.

"What about now?" I annoyingly ask.

"Not here, I want somewhere private." Claire stated again.

"How isn't the cafeteria private enough?" I say sarcastically

"Ha, Ha, Ha!" She counters back by laugh that sounded sarcastic.

"So where then?" I ask in a serious tone.

"Maybe your house?"

"Fine, my parents don't really care too much," I agreed, she can come over.

"We hope," she whispers under her breath, there was no point attacking her for that, my parents can be strict at times.

. . .

When school finished at 2:30 PM, Claire and I went to the maroon car waiting for me.

"Mum, can Claire come to our house so I can help her with some of the homework?"

"Sure, just teach her well," Mother replies.

I knew that meant yes but teach her well? A bad accidental line I guess.

"Nice car, Ms Landgraab," remarked Claire.

My mother (who is a snob) couldn't resist to a compliment.

"Why thank you, Claire!"

We quickly arrived home thanks to the speedy V-16 engine of the car and mentally insane handling, taking corners at full speed!

Claire guided me to my bedroom; she had been here too many times!

"Malcolm, you need to know that I got to tell you something, so I will say it," she states as she is closing the bedroom door.

"So what is it?" I ask.

"I want to tell you that I..." Claire started to smile and then blush. What did this mean?

"I..." She stutters again.

"I like, no, love you." This was the secret she finally revealed. This was a shock to me, after all these years. What does love even mean? I don't really know but just will have to find out...

"Do you really mean it?" I ask.

"Yes."

"From the bottom of your heart?" I ask, making sure she's saying the truth.

"Yes. This must be overwhelming for you."

"How would it not be, my best friend, has just told me that she loves me. I feel overwhelmed but I don't know really what to say or do next."

"Well it's overwhelming to me too; it's kind of hard to say that I have feelings for you or anyone in that matter."

"Well that smile of yours sort of hinted something."

"So you could tell by the looks on my face?"

"Well I've known you for years."

Claire sighed. "Well let's do the homework that you were supposed to teach me "well" about," she then started laughing and then I joined in too.

We got our blue homework books and started working on our first homework from "high" school, it wasn't too challenge, some of the questions required some thought but we got it done.

The rest of the week just flew by. I just could stop thinking about what Claire had said to me, I had really no-one to talk to about it; it was kind of weird now hanging with Claire though we're still classified as friends, well sort of?


	4. What's The Problem?

**Chapter 4: What's the Problem?**

A few days later, Claire came over to my place. She caught me writing this book, diary, journal or whatever else you want to call it.

"What?!" She screamed at me.

"Um..." I didn't know how to react.

"You've been writing about us?" She asks angrily.

"Well yeah, why can't I write, is that a crime? What's the problem?"

"About us, about our relationship with each other, then YES! It is a problem." She shouted in an even higher tone.

She gave me a death stare look, so I had to tell her whole story, "I started writing during our last week of elementary school..."

"But I wanted our relationship to be our secret, not in a book that anyone can pick up and read." She cut in.

"But it is in my possession only." I tried to explain and it worked.

"Well because our secret is in there, well it's easy to find out about." She again tries to reason with me.

"It will become an autobiography or journal of our lives." I say to make a compromise.

"Okay, agreed, it is done. So what are we going to do to make this interesting?" She asks.

"Well, um, what do teenagers typically do?" I question back.

"I don't know."

"Teenagers... are rebellious; they pull pranks and have fun as like it's the time of their lives?" That was my assumption of stereotypical teenagers.

"You definitely look like the rebellious type." Claire says jokingly.

"Sure, sure, I've been hiding it for years..."

"So what are going to do?" Claire asks going back to seriousness.

"How would I know? I'm not an ordinary teenager."

Claire then starts arguing with me for no reason at all.

"One who reads books at the library and does well at school?"

"Well what about you, going to the beach to fish with your mother." I answer back.

"We definitely know too much about each other." She then calms down and I try the stay on the teenager subject.

"True but I think we need to go somewhere different, outside the box." I tell Claire, "It can't be boring, our kids will think, oh what boring life my parents had."

My mother eavesdropped onto our conversation and quickly entered my bedroom.

"Go somewhere different... Well Malcolm you're in luck, next week we are going to Al Simhara!" She states excited.

I couldn't believe what she had just said, it sounded like it was made on the fly; if it was planned I would have heard about it ages ago. It changed the subject as Claire was beginning to fume red when I had already mentioned kids, we only just started our relationship and I'm sooner than later thinking that far in relationship, into the future.

"Al Simhara! I've never been there or anywhere else other than Sunset Valley before, you're pretty lucky Malcolm!" Claire was genuinely excited for me.

"I guess, but I wish you could come with us. Mother, can Claire come with us?" I ask politely.

"Malcolm, you don't have to do this for me." Claire's blushing; she's overwhelmed by my request.

"I do." I state to her, showing that I care for Claire.

"Malcolm, I'm sorry but this a family vacation, Claire hopefully you can come next time but I don't know what your mother would say." Mother rejects the idea; she hardly knows Claire or her mother.

"It's okay Mrs Landgraab," Claire accepted the rejection.

"I still think you should go," I speak out.

"I'll give you time to think about leaving without me, it's okay Malcolm. I should go." She wanted avoid so she starts to leave.

"You don't have to leave!" I plead.

"Something important came up, sorry."

"What has come up?" I ask puzzled, Claire hasn't told me she's has plans.

"Never mind it's a surprise." She whispers with a wink.

"Okay... See ya then." I accepted.

I thought about it, maybe it's a way to get me away from the worries of school and the whole problem of Claire liking me. Well maybe this is the chance to get it all over my head but I do wish Claire could come.

. . .

The week went past us quickly and I was excited for the trip to Al Simhara! Claire couldn't stop talking to me about it, I was only thinking about what I was going to do when I was there.

The taxi arrived to our house, Claire was already here to say goodbye.

"Malcolm, I have something to give you."

"What is it?" I ask.

It was a pair of Unitech binoculars, "the best binoculars you could buy."

"Well thank you for the binoculars. But how did you afford this?"

"I afforded it by fishing. I want you to explore, see the desert of Al Simhara."

To me fishing was Claire's answer to everything. It was time to say goodbye. "See you later, Claire and thank you again."

"Bye Malcolm, I hope you have a nice trip! Tell me all about your adventures later."

"Alright I will!" I shout as I enter the taxi door.

I entered the taxi and we were off on our way to Al Simhara!

As soon as we arrived at Al Simhara, I could feel the heat cooking my face; I looked and saw the heat wave effect in the air, so you couldn't see too much in the distance with the sun glaring at your face. The town is situated by the Nile River; this was the narrow part of the river, so you could see the other side. It is also situated near the coast of the Simterranean Sea. It is a land of exploration, danger, archaeological drifts and I'm excited to be here.

We arrived at the Sultan's Sanctuary Hotel, it was very luxurious. The building resembled The Taj Mahal and the owner of the Hotel, Samir Amin told us that the palace used to be called The Almond House but was recently turned into a luxurious five star hotel, that we are now staying in.

The foyer of the hotel was amazing, a fountain stream running down to the staircase right in front of you. At both sides of the room were some luxurious cashmere seats and couch to wait and have a chat in; down the seats and chairs there are two sets of dining tables, big enough to hold a feast! In the little gap between the stairs and the back of the hotel is the chef's kitchen which is small and cramped.

Upstairs is where the bathrooms and the "Sultan's Suite" rooms are, fortunately we were staying at the Sultan's Suite rooms, taking both, one for my parents and the other is for me all by myself! The rooms were beautifully furnished, sadly the rooms weren't really catered to suit my needs but once you went upstairs, it seemed they took care of it already. On the third floor was the entertainment area, with the massive WallVuu XXXXL widescreen television, arcade machines, a pool table, a chess set, a dominos table and arcade tables. Ah, I knew where I was going to spend the rest of my holidays at!

The next above that, which was the last level, was where the Scraptronic™ Workbench and the Pedestrian Sculpting Station and some bunk beds for some of the hotel's staff and the same beds were also for the §50 a night for a bed and breakfast deal.

The next day, I really just wanted to play in the games room but Mother insisted that we see the sights of Al Simhara, such as; the Abu Simbel, The Pyramids, the Ruins of Karnak, The Sphinx, The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Mastaba Ruins. There wasn't much to do here anyway except sightseeing, we were staying in Al Simhara for two weeks or 14 days, I am scared that we will do everything we can do in one week.

Today, we went to the Al Simhara Market. There were a few stalls, one sold food and another sold books, relics. I went to the relic store, to find a valuable gift for Claire as she gave those binoculars. The shopkeeper showed me all of his items, ranging from gems to common relics found from tomb raiding, not illegally of course. I bought her a heart shaped Amethyst, I would have loved to get her a pink diamond but they are just extraordinarily rare. At the market I saw some Snake Charmers; they sat next to each other. One of the snake charmers even got their snake, a Cobra, to kiss them!

Over the two weeks we went on own tours or adventures as I like to call them, to the monuments like The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and Abu Simbel, we saw a tourist camping on the monument, the Egyptian Police didn't even seem to mind. But during the second week, the heat had started to affect us and so we stayed in the hotel, Mother watched television and looked at her face in the mirror and Father just had some downtime and played some pool, while I played chess, some arcade games and I read some Egyptian books, "Ra! Ra! Ra!" and "From Dead to Mummy: The History of Healing", the books were mostly about mummies, which I think are terrifying! They are dead people resurrected and have been bandaged. They can give the fabled Mummy's Curse that can kill if not cured in 14 days. Wouldn't they be scared of fire? Well I don't know I never seen a mummy before.

The two weeks at Al Simhara went by so quickly. Maybe I was having too much fun? It didn't matter, I couldn't wait to see Claire and give her the present that I had bought her, I didn't really use this time to think about the thing, about Claire loving me but I guess it doesn't really matter as well, it will just come along.

We went by taxi from The Sultan's Sanctuary Hotel to the Airport where we took a plane all the way back to Sunset Valley, to home. When we arrived from home we were too exhausted from the plane ride so we took a day off to relieve us from the jet lag. The next day was a Tuesday so I had school and I couldn't wait to tell Claire all of the adventures I have had and give the gift I got her.


	5. The Great Food Fight

**Chapter 5: The Great Food Fight**

I couldn't wait to give Claire my gift; the expression on her face will be priceless! After a good night's sleep, Monday became Tuesday and it was the day I could finally give my gift. When I finally entered, it felt funny, something was up I could feel it, there wasn't as many students. I walked around the whole school to find Claire, I found her at the Gymnasium.

"Why are you at the Gym?" I ask her.

"I'm practising for the fitness test we have today for PE."

"We have a test today!?"

Wow it's only been two weeks and I've missed so much.

"Well it seems that you've been working out." Claire says sarcastically.

"Yeah, the Al Simharan heat has made me lose some weight," I said sarcastically.

"Why didn't you call me about the test?" I complain to Claire.

"I didn't want to bother you while you are on holidays."

"So what's the fitness test on?"

"Push-ups, sit-ups and jogging around the track." She then sighs, it's going to be a hard test.

"I'll ask Mr Sullivan to see if I can be taken out from the test."

"I've seen him here today."

I then see Mr Sullivan in his office. I shout out to him, "Mr Sullivan, can I not do the test?"

I come closer where his strong deep voice starts to hurt my ears.

"And why would that be Malcolm?" He asks in deep tone that frightens me to the bones.

"I haven't been here for two weeks." I stutter, nervous if he'll punish me.

"Alright, you won't do the test but next time, don't think I'll let you get out of another test." He calms down and gets back to work.

"Thanks, Mr Sullivan." I say in a quiet voice.

I couldn't believe that asking worked! But even with the fitness test on, why was that not many people were here?

I decided to ask Claire what was going on, she had been here the last two weeks, so she would have known. "Claire, something seems funny, it's not right, is there something going on today?"

"Well, there is a rumour that a food fight is going to happen."

"A food fight? Why would people stay home just to avoid a food fight?" I question.

"Well they say that it is going to be crazy and..." Claire tries to explain before being cut off.

"And..?" I ask until I notice Mr Anderson walk past, he was the strictest teacher and was the principal in the school and he was a tyrant to all of the students, even the good ones. Even the other teachers were scared of him, we could tell by the look of fear in their eyes every time he walked past...

He looked at us strangely as he knew what was going on. Maybe he was giving the death stare and if he was, I didn't like it; I really did not want to be in any teacher's bad books. The wind of his black coat whizzed past me, the air from it moving made me cold. The aura of the room changed as he left.

Claire stopped talking until he was gone, "So yeah it's going to be crazy and funny as they are going to attack any teacher that tries to stop them."

"Well I don't really want to be a part of this; we are going to be all in trouble."

"It's happening at the canteen, so you really can't avoid it."

"I could just go to the library." I reply back.

"They are going pound you with food before you even get there and when you do Mrs Doyle will send you out." She retorts. There's really no way out of this but it's just a rumour, it's not really going to happen or is it?

"I know, I'm thinking of other ways to get out of this."

"Well you could have just skipped another day off school."

"My parents would kill me if I even try."

"Too bad for you, we're going to have to be in it."

"Well I will just have to stay low."

Lunchtime soon came, "it's Showtime..." I say to Claire nervous about what 'could' happen.

We entered the canteen, it was quiet, too quiet, everyone that was here today was in the canteen but the teachers were not to be seen anywhere, where could they be?

As soon as the door canteen closed, it felt like the whole world went into slow motion, I saw the opportunity to give Claire my gift quickly, I knew it was going to happen at any time or just not happen at all but I took that chance.

"Claire, I got something to give you."

"What is it?" I pulled out the crystal and revealed it too her.

"Are you serious that would have been expensive!? I can't believe this! Thanks Malcolm!"

Without warning, an apple hit the amethyst and in slow motion, well it felt like it was in slow motion to me, the beautiful purple amethyst fell and it broke into many glistening pieces. I watched it lay on the ground damaged and irreparable. This made me furious, I went out of my way to buy the amethyst, all the way from Al Simhara and now it felt like I have just wasted my time.

I saw the person who threw the apple, it was VJ Alvi, Miraj Alvi's older and rebellious brother, I wanted hunt him down, I could just tell by his reaction. Claire just stood there and didn't really know what to say next. I wanted to throw some food back at him. But some people say "Actions Speak Louder than Words." Well too bad I didn't care about that, I found a banana on the table next to us; I peeled the banana open and chucked it at him. The banana went straight into his mouth. I laughed my head off; I also was in hysteria that I even got it in there.

I was in the middle of the fire fight, to the left were the nerds and others and to the right were the jocks/sports people and the "cool" kids. I had to make the tables surround us so we could be defended on both sides. Robbie Kauker, made robots and cool electronic gadgets, he and his robot were in the circle we made, I wasn't angry at him so helped protect him. He sent out his battle robot, "Spar-Bot", "Master, how should I effectively attack these Meatbags?" The speech of the Spar-Bot was not perfected and instead of Sims he used Meatbags, well it didn't matter, the bot could battle alright, it fired mash potato like a catapult going at a hundred miles an hour.

"Spar-Bot just fire whatever you can to the people that are firing at us."

Every single piece of food you can think of was thrown, from mouldy sandwiches to salads being tossed. I fired a few then ducked and then fired again, I primarily attacked VJ Alvi and he was the arch nemesis, I got some of his friends but I couldn't get a good clean shot.

We were all covered in food, my anger started to calm down until the canteen door opened...

The room fell silent. It was Mr Anderson! We were all screwed! He called out names, VJ Alvi, Darlene Bunch, Richard Kuic, Malcolm Landgraab and David Badsport. The five were picked out of hundreds of kids that had done the crime too. It was just because he didn't like us was why he chose us. Though I think he had known about it already, with his death stare at me earlier today.

He took us into the principal's office as he was the school principal. He gave us all a seat and one by one he started to call our parents. I knew I was screwed, I couldn't let him call my parents and it was just a big misunderstanding that's all. All I could hope is if he can understand my case. Well I hope...


	6. A Close Call

**Chapter 6: A Close Call**

I pleaded to Mr Anderson, to not call my parents, had I an idea to admit that I was at fault. No student likes to admit their mistakes. It was the only way I could make a deal with him. I was just about to say something, when VJ Alvi stood up. "Mr Anderson I've got something to say to you."

"What is it VJ?" He asks.

"Um, I am the one responsible for starting the food fight, I chucked the first piece of food." He explains to Mr Anderson

"So it was you that started it," Mr Anderson then muttered under his breath, "Typical."

"Yes, Mr Anderson." VJ announced that he took the blame.

"What about the others? Were they a part of your group that started the food fight?" Mr Anderson asks after pulling five delinquents.

"Yes, they all played a key role in the food fight." VJ told everyone, making everyone pay the price of his doing.

I was shocked; I thought that he was going to let us get away with it. Well the saying is; if I'm coming down you're all coming down with me.  
I just did not expect this to happen but I realised that it was VJ Alvi; it's something that he would do. But now the problem is what sort of punishment in Mr Anderson going to give us?

"Okay, students because you admitted fault and told the truth, you will have to only clean up the mess you made."

"But... Mr Anderson?" Everyone questioned simultaneously.

"No buts or ifs, this decision is final! You are going clean it today and I will ring your parents and tell them where you are. Now get cleaning," he shouts.

"Yes, Mr Anderson," we all say collectively at same time.

Mr Anderson stood up and took us to the janitor's closet.

We grabbed all the equipment needed; mops, chemical sprays, rubber gloves, wipes and our dignity. Maybe I should see this situation as a glass half full not half empty; maybe this is the chance to enhance my cleaning skill? Mr Anderson then went off and we walked on own to the cafeteria. Everyone else in the school had gone to class and the mess of the cafeteria was indescribable, I was speechless, the mess made would take us years to finish cleaning all of this.

There was no time procrastinating, there was a lot of work and we wanted to get it over and done with. I put on my yellow cleaning gloves, grabbed some plain cloths and got stuck into the work. We decided to work in sections to get the job done faster.

"Hey Richard get over here!" I hear Darlene Bunch call out. I came to see what the fuss was about. It was the mark of a head as food was splatted all around it.

"That's pretty cool," remarked Darlene.

"We better get back to work," I told everyone but would anyone listen? No, they took their own time even though they wanted to get out of here as fast as they could.

Not all of us were trouble makers, the only exception was me, I really felt like the odd one out but I was here to get the job done, well I was in trouble. I just couldn't get over the fact that I was in trouble.

I started to scrub again, watching the food disappear in front of my eyes, the people who made the cleaning chemicals must be geniuses to invent things like this, on the other hand, you wouldn't want to touch these chemical with your bare hands, and your hands might as well catch on fire!

Time flew because we were having "fun", that was because I was the only doing the work, scrubbing and scrubbing until my gloves broke, my hands broke until everything broke. By the time had been three hours, I had done 75% of the cafeteria, I have had enough, and I sat down and slept.

Richard came up to me, "Malcolm, we're finished, it's time to go." I woke instantly, I checked the time on my phone, and it was 6:00PM! Did we really take three and a half hours on cleaning? No wonder I was tired!

I felt like I couldn't even walk properly then Mr Anderson suddenly walked in to inspect our cleaning job, our parents were notified and they all came to pick us up. I was scared that the conversation I would have with parents, them shouting at me, punishing me, like banning me off something, like my laptop or my Maxoid Game Simulator 2 ½. It really was a nightmare that has come true.

As soon as I exited The Community School of The Gifted, I saw the VFN Kompensator pull up to the school; the moment of truth had arrived.

Mother pulled down the window, "Malcolm! Get in the car now!"

I was screwed, my parents were going to kill me and I have always been a good boy but why now!?

I tried to reason with her, "Mother... About earlier today..."

"Enough already! I know about it and you're in big trouble young man!" Mother shouts back at me, disallowing me to make my case.

I stayed silent; there was nothing more to say, just take the shouting and punishment.

Mother then started to mumble about me, about what had happened, "How could of Malcolm have done this? I thought he was a good boy and was going to stay out of trouble and have better friends. I'm disappointed."

Mother thought I had not heard a word she said but I was right next to her I could hear every word she mumbled. I couldn't believe she's disappointed; I've only done one small thing wrong. Could it be that big of a deal? I waited until the car arrived to my house and in front of the driveway was father standing there with a stern look on his face. It was father's turn to tell me off.

I got out of the car, "Malcolm, your mother and I need to have a word with you." Father told me in his stern voice.

Father took me into the study. "Malcolm, we know about your food fight incident that happened earlier today and the principal, Mr Anderson called us and told us what had happened and that you have been constantly in trouble." My father said to me calmly.

"That's a lie!" I exclaim back, why would Mr Anderson lie? What have I done to deserve this?

"Don't accuse your principal of false claims! Why would he be lying to us?" He shouts back.

"The food fight was the only bad thing that I have done, he just hates with a passion for no reason." I reply

"Then why would he hate you?" He asks.

"I just told you! He just hates me!"

"Really? I don't believe you."

"Just ask Claire, she will tell you the truth!"

"Wasn't Claire in trouble too?" Father asks, knowing that we hang out together thinking that she's the source of the trouble.

"No, I and four other kids in trouble even though there were at least a hundred kids that had done the wrong thing."

"Mr Anderson said that you hang out in this group of delinquents."

"That's not true; I mainly hang out with Claire."

Father then started talking to mother, wondering what they are going punish me with.

"Okay, your mother and I have come to a decision, we are banning you from the console and your other presents for a week but if you do something wrong again, we will punish you even more. Understood?"

"Yes, Father." I agreed, it couldn't be any worse.

I couldn't believe how that went, I still feel bad about what I have done even if it wasn't entirely my fault. Maybe I needed to get away from it all again, not go on a trip but maybe just stay out of the house for a day?


	7. Getting Away From It All

**Chapter 7: Getting Away From It All**

**I just needed to take a step back from the reality of life and have a bit of time for myself, use my free time. I felt like I trapped in my house, I'm a prisoner in a prison and I want to escape, I feel like that I might be going stir crazy. Luckily today was a Saturday, the perfect chance to do it, it has been a week. My parents wouldn't mind me leaving the house, as long as I don't do anything silly.**

**I put my MP3 player on and rode down to Central Park, where I was meeting my other friend, Arthur Jackson. I didn't really talk to him that much during Elementary School but now he's opened up and somehow I've become friends with him. I had to ask him where to go; there are too many places to go to in Sunset Valley.**

**"So where should we go?" I ask.**

**"Um maybe, The User's Arcade?" Arthur asks me.**

**"That sounds like a great idea!" I reply.**

**The User's Arcade was an arcade that had been in town for years, I never went there as it has fallen into a state of disrepair, even though it is a popular hangout for teenagers who want to play some arcade games. I just wanted to play some skeeball. I wasn't the best at it neither was Arthur. It was by the beach and quite close to Claire's house but I didn't want to annoy her. **

**Arthur and I hopped onto our bicycles and rode again downhill to The User's Arcade. At the front entrance was asphalt and weeds growing on the side. Also was a big blue and pink neon sign, showing that it was a shed turned into a fifties arcade which has fallen into decay. The building was made out of rusting corrugated iron; I hope the building doesn't crash on me. **

**I entered the building; there were some new machines, a whack, a mole machine and a claw machine! Time to get some prizes! I kept staring at the claw machine in the middle of the room then I went up to it and put in 1 Simoleon. While I was distracted with the claw machine, Arthur was doing some trick shots with the pool table at the back.**

I was too busy playing with the claw machine that I didn't notice VJ Alvi walk in. He sneaks up behind me... "Malcolm Landgraab, we need to have a little chat outside."

I looked behind, "VJ Alvi, we don't need a chat, just get away from me!" I shouted.

Everyone stopped what they were doing; I think I spoke a bit too loudly. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Everyone was shouting; spurring VJ on. I didn't want to fight VJ nor could I defeat him, it was either defend or run for it!

I had to get some space, I moved forward and he took a step back, he held up his fists, ready for a fight. I held up my fists too, but I wasn't ready to fight. I took a deep breath then I wonder who was going to take the first hit. Out of nowhere I see a fist come flying at me! I blocked it with the palm of my right hand. It really hurt but I wasn't going give up showing weakness.

I had to take a punch and get out of there. I quickly, as hard as I could, punched VJ in the stomach. He instantly fell to the ground, looking pretty hurt or that was his sneaky plan to make me think that he is weak. The only thing is that I am scrawny and weak and he is big and strong, there was no way to get out of this without major injury. I pushed VJ to the side, called out to Arthur, "Arthur! Let's get outta here!" I ran outside to the front, clouds were forming in the sky, which was a first in a while in Sunset Valley as it has mostly been sunny like every single day.

I had no time for weather in Sunset Valley; I had to run away from VJ before he could attack me again. I asked the question, where could I go to hide? Central Park? School? Home? Arthur's house? Claire's house? None of those suggestions could work, they're just too plain obvious.

Maybe we could go to the beach, swim into the sea and hide under holding my breath? That was too far-fetched but it could work. I ran across the road to Old Pier Beach, I dived into the cold water and then Arthur went up to the water and questioned me. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to hide from VJ", I replied.

"Oh. But you're going to catch a cold swimming in cold water." He asks

"It doesn't matter I really just need to get away from VJ before he can attack me."

"I don't think he will chase you, he'll just be at school on Monday." Arthur shouts undeniably telling the truth.

"Damn, I didn't think of that and now I'm wet," and then it started to rain, I think I spoke too soon about me being the only one that was wet, "Alright, Arthur we better go home. So I'll see you later."

"Goodbye Malcolm," he shouts as he walks away.

I had no raincoat, no umbrella to protect myself from the rain. So I had to ride home using my bicycle. It will be pretty dark soon, I hadn't realised how many hours I was at the arcade and well they say time flies when you have fun!

As soon as I got home I went upstairs into the lounge to watch the weather channel on the television. The reporter said that Autumn/ Fall had begun and Sunset Valley will be going into winter after that. Sunset Valley has been stuck in a perpetual summer for over 3 years!

I had nothing really else to do at home, then I thought about my old chemistry set that I used to dabble on and make crazy concoctions, like bladder flow, that created a lot of mischief in the house.

Then again I thought about the weather, for some peculiar reason, there's something going to happen. Then I realised that it is becoming Autumn/Fall that means the Fall Festival at Central Park will be happening soon, I cannot wait! Maybe I'll get to go slow dancing with Claire or kiss her at the kissing booth or play some horseshoes or go roller-skating?

Either way, the problem with VJ just seems to get worse, I try not to do anything about it but I always make a scene and make everything worse.


	8. My Spooky Nightmare

**Chapter 8: My Spooky Nightmare**

Last night, I had the worst dream; I woke up in the middle of the night like four times! I was in the town of Moonlight Falls, the place where Vampires, Witches, Ghosts, Fairies, Zombies and Werewolves, the Supernatural live. Ironically it wasn't about VJ Alvi beating me up at school but it was him being a Werewolf and he was going to attack my Gothic Mansion with all the different kinds of creatures. I am a Supernatural Sceptic so I had to deploy my peashooters, it was snowing heavily but that wouldn't affect my awesome peashooters. I had put 4 rows by 4 columns of peashooters, enough to defend Zombies for a lifetime.

I went upstairs to the attic of the house where a big window and telescope was so I could the waves of my enemies being destroyed. I lived far away from the road so it was a long and tiring walk to get to my mansion, especially for the zombies!

The battle only began because Bonehilda, my maid was found dead and she turned into a Skeleton so buried her and I think that is what started the war. She became alive and now wanted revenge. She then told VJ Alvi, leader of the pack of the werewolves about the incident that occurred and then he told the Crumplebottom Sisters, again about the story. They are witches who are now making a zombie army by infecting the town's inhabitants.

I have haunted memories of Bonehilda in her skeletal form, especially of her appearing behind me without notice. It would scare the living daylights out of me, her cold, sharp bones touching me. Just the thought makes me shiver.

. . .

I live alone in this giant mansion and it never occurs to me that I'm lonely. Maybe the constant fear of being attacked is keeping me alive and never making me feel lonely. Maybe I've gone insane? I wake up for the first time. After 10 minutes of waiting I fell back to sleep again. I looked through the telescope to see if I could spot any attackers. Over to the right was a vampire running so fast there was a blur behind it. The vampire would not be affected by the peashooters but I did have some spare garlic on me. I needed to defeat the vampire but how? I hear the vampire sprung open the door and quickly run upstairs to where I was. "I want to suck your blood!"

I needed to think fast! My martial arts skills weren't that great, vampires are stronger than Sims. I was good at my chemistry set and lying in the shelf next to me was a stink bomb potion. I held my breath, I threw the bomb onto the floor, the vampire started cough then I gave the vampire a good dose of garlic and then he passed out. If that was just the first wave, what's coming next?

I spoke too soon, I saw three witches riding quickly to the house on their brooms. How was I going to deal with them? They stood at the front of my house, when the earth started to shake... For the second time I woke up. I was sweating, I'm worried about this nightmare and what did it mean? I went back to sleep for the third time...

I then hear a howl, I wake up from the earthquake and I ran to the window see what was happening. The witches were bringing zombies up into the earth. Hopefully my peashooters could defend this onslaught... There were just too many of them they ate all of the plants. I could hear the zombies shout, "Arggh! Brains!"

The zombies entered the house and start marching up the stairs. The howls of the werewolves were nearer than before. I couldn't take this; I'm not going to win. "_I'm not going down with a fight,"_ I thought to myself. But it was too late, the zombies were near the end of the grand staircase and so were the werewolves, crawling their way up the stairs with VJ leading them. So what will it be? Will I become a zombie or a werewolf? Neither. VJ Alvi suddenly appears in front of me. "So it looks like the end of the line for you. Mr Landgraab." He says in his snarky tone that never changes no matter what form he is in.

I reply with, "No, never..." One of the witches quickly casts a curse and slowly I die. The Grim Reaper appears. It's the end and I know it.

. . .

I soon wake up, I suddenly hear that Mother was shouting at me, saying to get ready for school, I really didn't want to go to school only because didn't want to face VJ again. But I can't hide from him forever. And so I quickly got packed and dressed and entered the school bus, the doors closed behind me before I could say anything. I was too late, I had to face him.


	9. The Confrontation

**Chapter 9: The Confrontation **

I had the butterflies in my stomach; my gut was telling me that this was not going to be good. I couldn't face VJ. By recess I had the guts to do it, to end this pointless war. I went up to VJ Alvi, "VJ? I think we should end this, before someone could get hurt."

"Someone get hurt? Do you mean you getting hurt?"

He had made the situation tenser than ever before. "Um, no I mean, stop this stupid fighting."

"You're the one that started it, Malcolm."

This made me furious, how did I start this? "I started this, really? Then how?'

"Malcolm Landgraab the richest boy in town, he has the power to accuse the people he doesn't like."

"That's false. I would never do anything like that."

"But you would so."

The argument was going nowhere, he would backfire every comment I made.

I'm getting really angry that I wanted to beat him up.

"This is going nowhere, so let's go. Are you a coward?"

VJ was fuming. His cheeks started to turn red. "So you want to fight."

"No but I'll use it as a last resort."

I knew this wasn't going to end well. At least I tried. VJ throws a punch. I see it coming and I block it with my arm. Then it was my turn. I swung hard at VJ's stomach. It was super effective. VJ was winded, it must have hurt. I never knew I could punch so hard.

"You don't mess with Malcolm."

"Ow, do you think this is really over? You watch, ow, your back because, ow, I'll be there!"

I just slowly walked away like I was some action hero movie character that had just beaten the main rival. I saw a dark shadow appear behind me, I knew who it was. I knew what was just about to happened. I turned around, Mr Anderson, with dark black and expensive sunglasses stared at me angrily. "MALCOLM LANDGRAAB! Go to my office NOW!" I slowly walked to the principal's office, with Mr Anderson walking slowly behind me. I wondered if he saw everything or just the last moment. But it didn't matter, I caused the incident. I walked into the office, there was Arthur sitting in the seat. Was he in trouble too?

I took the seat next to him. "Oh I didn't see you come in," Arthur looked startled. "I'm a bit sneaky like that," I said jokingly. I was getting suspicious. What was going on? "So are you in trouble?" I asked.

"No, not at all just having a friendly chat with Mr Anderson."

"But I thought you didn't like him?" I asked questioningly.

"Oh! I did? I don't remember saying that."

Mr Anderson walked into the room, the room was silent, "So Mr Landgraab, thinks he can bully kids older than him. And by the way I know about the incident at the arcade."

"What incident?" I say sarcastically.

"Where you injured, poor VJ Alvi."

"How would you know, you weren't there."

"I have connections Mr Landgraab, just like your Mother and Father."

I didn't realise Arthur sitting next to me soaking up every word of this talk.

"Well why is Arthur in the room? I thought this is confidential?"

"It is confidential. He won't tell a word to anyone. Won't you Arthur?"

Arthur replied as if he was a robot, "No Sir."

"Is this connection, Arthur? He is the one that told you about the incident at the arcade. He did. I was there I was with him."

"You finally figured it all out; he was an 'informant' for me most of the time."

"Why do you hate me so much? What have I done wrong, that you would send a spy on me?"

"You're a spoilt brat! The lucky rich kid who gets anything he wishes, there are more less unfortunate people out there!"

I was furious; he thinks I'm a spoilt brat! I don't ask very much from my parents.

"I may be lucky but doesn't mean that you form some sort of hate for me."

Mr Anderson was very quiet after that sudden outburst, he regretted what he had just said.

"Let me tell the story of my life, Malcolm."

"Okay."

"I grew up in the city of Bridgeport, which is very far away from Sunset Valley. So one day my parents decide to go on vacation, just the two of them, it was their late honeymoon, a trip to Sunlit Tides."

"Where is Sunlit Tides?"

"A Tropical Island in the Pasimfic Ocean, a tropical resort is there."

"Oh I've never been there before."

"Well it's beautiful. My parents said that they would be gone for two weeks. They left me alone with a horrible babysitter, Anastasia Smugglesworth. Two weeks felt like ages and when it passed, my parents never came home. I have never known what happened to them, the police didn't find them, so I was taken by the social worker and I was put into what they called a 'loving, caring family' but they were wrong, they were mean and horrible and shouted at me every single day, never gave me enough food, my room looked like it had been in a fire, the house was like a haunted mansion, every time you stepped a creaking sound was made. I lived an unhappy life as a child and teenager. Only until I became an adult, I was finally free. I wanted to move away from the family that took 'care' of me. I ran away to the furthest place I could, Sunset Valley. I took my loving dog, Morpheus with me. I finally became a teacher and look at me now. A school principal."

Mr Anderson was finally nice to me, we decided to end this hatred against each other and I was in his good books for once. I didn't think twice of this friend, I started to feel bad about all the things I said bad about Mr Anderson.

But I still couldn't believe that Arthur betrayed me! Well I just better see Claire before she gets angry. Arthur betraying me, it didn't matter now, Mr Anderson and I are fine now, I just need to find more time to spend with Claire, not just writing...


	10. Love Day

**Chapter 10: Love Day**

The Festival for Autumn/Fall had finally arrived. Love Day! I was going to surprise Claire by taking her there. Central Park was decorated just for the festival and luckily it was a sunny day, which usually would have been normal in Sunset Valley. I went over to Claire's house, it was easy to get there I knew way in my head. I knocked on the door; I didn't know if Claire's mother was home, Claire opened the door. "Claire, I want to take you somewhere."

"What? Where are you going to take me?"

"To the Love Day festival."

"Really!? I thought you forgot about me?"

"I thought this would have been a nice surprise."

"Well it is a surprise and it sounds like fun!"

We both rode our bikes to Central Park, lucky it wasn't raining or it would be a wet festival. We arrived at Central Park, both of us tired; we hadn't got any exercise in a while. Maybe we could get some exercise on the roller-skating rink? In the centre of the park was a big, ivy-leafed statue thing, I think that was a sign that the festival is on but you could also tell by all the booths and stands so it was really pointless.

The sun was shining on my face, I looked at the things we could do, we could go slow-dancing, but I've never done it before and I think I tried it would just all go wrong. I smiled at Claire, "What shall we do first?" Today was Claire's day, this was for her and she could do whatever she wanted.

"Why don't we go roller-skating?" She thought it would be a great idea; the only problem is that we have never been roller-skating before. "Sure, just hope we don't trip..." We put on roller-skates we hired and as soon as I stepped on the rink, I nearly slipped into Bella Bachelor who was with Mortimer Goth. "Whoops! Sorry about that Bella."

"It's okay, so you are at the festival too. Your treating Claire, well Morty's treating me too. Today's going to be a good day!" Bella said to me.

"Yeah", I replied to Bella.

We both needed to fix up our roller-skating skills but we were still having fun. After a while we got better and we were skating like the professionals. We got tired after roller-skating so we went get some food, we asked one of the food stalls attendant,

"Ah, excuse me, can we have two grasshopper pies please."

After a minute or two, "Oh sorry, are you sure you don't want one big pie to share?" "Nah, were fine", Claire said suddenly. We both sat down on a small table, opposite towards each other and we eat, fast.

"Why are eating so quickly?", I asked.

"Because I can."

Then we saw some children run past, they were going on the egg hunt.

I thought about; _if we did it when we were younger but I remembered we had nothing like that. I wish we did but... Oh well I'm having fun with Claire right now. _Claire and I had both finished eating; we decided what we were going to do next, "What about playing some horseshoes?" I asked.

"I wanted to do something a little...more...romantic."

_Hmm. Romantic, I thought; there were many options, I could kiss Claire for the first time or I could go slow dancing and finish off with a kiss? _ I went up and held Claire's hands; they were warm from the hot Claire suddenly had an idea, "What about we show the others how to slow dance? How about we go slow dancing?"

"That was what I was exactly thinking!" I laughed. _Great minds think alike._

We both walked up to the dance floor holding hands again I was trying something new today.

My heart started to race, I was having fun with Claire and I was excited to be with her. We walked up to the dance which was near the centre of the park. Slow music started playing; we danced with just a one-two step, with both of us holding each other's hands. We were both smiling; we were in love and having a good time. The star-crossed lovers. That's what I like to call our relationship with each-other.

As we were slow dancing, time seemed to slow down; Claire looked more beautiful than ever, maybe that was just me and my eyes. I didn't seem to notice everyone looking at us and Bella and Mortimer; we were the new young couples, young love. I was spaced out in my own little world with Claire and I, everything was glorious and happy, meadows of flowers; exactly like Spring.

Then a big announcement came; we stopped to hear the announcement, the festival today was not supposed to be Love Day but Spooky Day, it was Autumn/Fall not Spring and the weather reporter from the weather channel got it wrong.

I felt terrible, this agitated me but it was a good day and the event kept going even though the trees haven't turned brown yet, I couldn't believe it was Autumn/Fall. Claire and I still had fun, we went off to play horseshoes and I won! Then we used the love tester machine, to test our love, it hit the maximum, I gave a sigh of relieve. Claire and I had a lot of fun; she went home very happy and was so elated that it was a hit. I hope you have a happy Love Day!

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the chapter being later than usual. I had lots of schoolwork and are there any improvements I could make or any story ideas? I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)


	11. The Case

**Chapter 11: The Case**

"Malcolm! We need to talk to you!" called my mother. I went down the stairs and turned left into the living room. My parents, Nancy and Geoffrey were standing there with their arms crossed. What had I done wrong now?

"Your friend, VJ Alvi, his father has sued us." My mother explains.

"For what reason?" I asked.

"For inappropriate behaviour."

"Why would I do inappropriate behaviour?"

"Maybe it was about the scuffle you two had earlier, now I know about enemies and I have some... Now for you isn't the best time to make enemies Malcolm."

"Making enemies just happen." I replied.

"As if. You do something to make them just 'happen'." My father says out of nowhere.

"So what are we going to do about this?" I asked to try to avoid a conflict and it worked.

"Well... You could say that you're sorry or we sued him or we try to win the case."

"I would never say sorry VJ, after all the things he's done to me."

Then mother said, "Talk won't fix the problem, action will."

We decided to try to talk to VJ about it, to smooth things out and if that doesn't work we'll just win the case. The next school day, Monday, was the time to talk to VJ.

"Don't forget to talk to VJ, Malcolm."

"Don't worry Mother, I won't, bye!"

I couldn't forget to talk to VJ or my parents will kill me!

I knew that if I talked to VJ another fight would start and I'll either be kicked out of school or have Mr Anderson down my back again, I don't want to ruin this relationship. This situation is a Catch-22 (nothing can fix the problem, if I try anything it becomes the same problem again).

At Lunchtime I try to talk to Claire about it. "What will I do?" I say out loud with Claire next to me.

"About what?" she asks.

"VJ's father has filed a case against us... for inappropriate behaviour." I say while sighing.

"That's the most outrageous thing I've heard."

"Well I'm not lying and I need to speak to VJ."

"Don't worry I'll be there next to you."

"Thanks, for all the support you've given me all those years."

"Your saying thanks? I'm the one that should be saying thanks, you've given me more support than I ever did, don't you remember the field trip the theatre?"

"The field trip to the theatre? Oh, ah, I remember! Is it the one when we went under the stage where we weren't supposed to and I covered you from Ms Fr...?"

"Ms Francie."

"Yeah, those were funny times."  
"Too bad we don't do anything funny anymore."

"Your right, we should do something together."

I had to think about what Claire and I could do for fun but that was distracting me from my task that I have to do today, talk to VJ. I didn't want to face but I had to, it was like the confrontation that a week or two ago. I had the butterflies in my stomach again, it's not that I couldn't face him; it was just what could happen in a matter of moments.

There was no point procrastinating. This problem had now effected my whole family, not just me and I don't like this, he has no right to sue, couldn't we just hate each other and that's it? I kept thinking about it and it made me angry that he would try to hurt my family. I finally found VJ, "VJ?"

"What?" he asks.

"Why did you sue my family?"

"Because I hate you and your family, I want you to suffer!"

"And your father was totally behind this?"

"A little fib doesn't hurt."

"So you lied and only did it to attack me."  
"That's exactly what's happened."

"Why can't we just stop, leave each other alone, no suing or anything else."

"But this is too much fun. Why would I want to stop?"

"You know you'll lose the court case, we have more resources than you."

"It doesn't matter if I lose, you'll still lose your credibility and the Landgraab name will become a meaning of shame."

"NO IT WON'T!" I shouted in complete anger.  
I just walked away, there was no point starting anything.

...

School ended and I had to tell the bad news to Mother. "Mother, he didn't want to stop the case, he hates us and our family." I say to Mother looking glum. The funny thing was that VJ Alvi and his family weren't the richest in town and I think they aren't in the position to sue us but they want to give it a shot. "Why?" Mother blatantly asks.

"It's because we're rich and he's not."

"Well people don't understand that you work hard to be rich and it isn't easy to maintain all that money. Something I will teach you soon."

"So do you think we'll win?"

"Of course we will, Malcolm. The only problem I have is I have to fix your problem. You need to learn responsibilities, how else are you going to manage Landgraab Industries?"

Me managing Landgraab Industries, how can I manage that when I can't even manage my life?

Next week on Saturday was when the case was on. I definitely couldn't wait.


	12. Becoming Infamous

**Chapter 12: Becoming Infamous**

One week away was the hearing, I could not stop thinking about it, I tried to get my mind off it but nothing has seemed to work. I felt really angry at VJ and I didn't know how to let it all go. I told Claire about the problem and she said, "We should go pranking Malcolm, it's something we've never done before." Claire smiled at me; she really did want to try this out.

I guess I needed some fun after the whole VJ suing incident. Ironically my parents were thinking the same thing and were going on a trip to Sunlit Tides for a week until the hearing begins. This was an opportunity for a lifetime; this was the chance to try out pranking. Claire and I needed a plan so if things go awry we'll be able to fix it.

"Malcolm your father and I are going to Sunlit Tides for a break. Be on your best behaviour as the Butler Berjes will look after you."

"Butler Berjes!? I hardly even know him."

"He's good so don't worry Malcolm."

"Will you be back before the hearing?"

"Of course, we're never late to an important event."

_I thought back to the time of the school field trip a couple of years ago where Mother was supposed to pick me up as soon as possible and she was 1 hour late! How could she forget that?_ I guess time flies and memories feel like a long, long time ago.

As soon as Mother and Father left to their trip to Sunlit Tides. I called Claire on my cell phone to see what plans she had for tonight. "Hello, this is Malcolm"

"Hey Mal what's up?"

"Um, do you want to go prank Mrs Crumplebottom?" I ask Claire.

"You're finally doing something fun!" Claire exclaims.

"Well it was your idea."

"My ideas are always good ideas", Claire replied.

I could just imagine her smirking while she said that. Well if Claire approved of it, then it was happening tonight. I grabbed some eggs out of the house and sneaked quietly to the garage to grab my bicycle and I rode away to freedom. I was meeting up with Claire at Crumplebottom's house. She wasn't there, running a bit late even though her house isn't that far away from here. Agnes Crumplebottom was sister to Cornelia Goth, Mortimer's Mother, she was rich too from her late husband but when he died, it make Agnes grumpy and it stuck, she was the grumpiest person in Sunset Valley, her was a beautiful modern estate nestled in the woods, secluded from the rest of Sunset Valley so she can mourn over her husband's death.

A few minutes Claire appeared out of thin air, "Sorry I was a bit late; it was a bit confusing trying to convince Mum."

"Better late than never", I whispered.

Time to have some fun, I pulled out the eggs. I moved to the fence at the front of the arched driveway of the house, protecting us from Agnes Crumplebottom seeing us. "So what's the plan Malcolm?" Claire asked.

"Okay... You run up to the door and ring the doorbell and run as fast as you can to this bush and fence here..." I stutter mid-sentence.

"And?"

"As soon as she steps out, eggs away."

"Should we at least try to aim?"

"I guess it doesn't matter but if hit her head, I'll give you fifty simoleons."

"Deal. Let's do this."

Claire ran up to the door and rang the doorbell and ran as fast she could back to me. The moment waiting for Mrs Crumplebottom to step out of the house felt like it was taking forever. I heard the door handle move, I looked at Claire and nodded, the door opened. With an egg in one hand, I lifted it up and threw the egg as hard as I could... Splat! I threw the egg right at Mrs Crumplebottom's face. "Well you win!" whispered Claire while firing eggs. 36 eggs were thrown, most of them hitting Mrs Crumplebottom's house and some others hitting her. As soon as we stopped, her face turned extremely red and she then chucked a tantrum. "Those damn kids, thinking they can fool me! Where are you! There's no point of hiding I'll find you!" Mrs Crumplebottom shouted, in her usual grumpy tone.

"We need to get out of here! How are we going to do that?" questioned Claire.

"Don't worry; I'll think of something, I always have a plan." I said, reassuring Claire.

I thought of an idea, _we could just quickly ride on our bicycles to Claire's house and lay low there, Mrs Crumplebottom would never see us._ "I got it." I whispered to Claire.

"So what is it?"

"We go on our bicycles to your house and lay low."

"Alright but what if we are caught?"

"I don't know. Just keep on going I guess."

On the count of three, we ran towards our bikes, hoping that Mrs Crumplebottom wouldn't see us. "Come on Claire! We don't have all day!" I shouted to Claire as she was fiddling with her bike. We were taking too long, I just know it that we are going to get caught. As soon as we got our bikes, the fear of being caught was looming against us but there was no time for that we just had to get out of here and fast!

The short ride to Claire's house was satisfying as we finally got the heck out of there and this some good fun, something I hadn't done with Claire for years. "That was good," I said to Claire.

"Well luckily I said yes or this would have never happened..." Claire said, smirking at me. I said "hello" to Claire's Mother but she didn't seem to respond, at 9 o'clock I rode up the steep hill back to Landgraab Estate, greeting Butler Berjes at the expected time to be back.

. . .

The next day was school, I happy that I wasn't in trouble or that Mrs Crumplebottom had found out who did it. I caught the yellow bus to school, Butler Berjes even said goodbye! I had a good feeling about today, just for no apparent reason.

As soon as I arrived at school, everything felt different; everyone was looking at me whispering to their friends, "Hey he's the guy who pranked Crumplebottom!" How could everyone know about this? Rumours and events don't spread that fast!

Claire ran up to me, "what has happened Malcolm? What have you done?"

"Nothing." I replied.

"Well everything thinks were cool and rebellious."

"I just found about this just now. I haven't done anything I promise. Well it looks we've become infamous."

"Infamous?"

"Famous for a bad reason."

"Well you already had that on you." Claire said jokingly.

Claire started laughing and then I started to laugh too, maybe we are hysterical to the fact that we are screwed. One last laugh couldn't hurt, right?


	13. Hiding

**Chapter 13: Hiding **

"So what are we going to do about this? Things in Sunset Valley spread quickly and stay forever!" I exclaimed to Claire."You're over-exaggerating everything! You have nothing to worry about; you're such a worry-wart."

"No I'm not, I'm just cautious!" I said angrily back.

This was the first time Claire and I were fighting and now wasn't a good time. "If you're the brains behind operation, can't you think of something to fix this?"

I couldn't believe that Claire would make a comment like that. Why are we so worked up about this?

_If there is a will, there is a way; _I thought to myself, _there is a way out of this, just need to think of one._

"Alright I'll think of something, not anything spectacular."

"It better be fast."

**. . . **

A couple of hours, I still couldn't think of anything, I just went back to reading some good old books, like Simlock Holmes, a private investigator who solved crime cases in Twinbrook a long time ago. He cracked some really amazing and puzzling cases like The Case of Identity. The book is amazing but then it gave me the idea of hiding, laying low. But then again, how was I going to pull it off?

I thought about it again, maybe this will just go off in time, hopefully before Mother & Father come back and I think the trial will take over the news instead of two troublesome teenagers pranking. "So how are we going to lay low?" asks Claire after I told her what was the plan.

"Well we could just not do anything, stay off the radar."

"True. And where do you get all these sayings from?" Claire asks.

I blushed, "From reading books, I guess."

"Now I feel like reading a book. Let's go the library then."

"But we want to Lay Low? The library is a popular place you know, lots of Sims flock here."

"I always had a feeling that there were too many bookworms in Sunset Valley." Claire snickered.

I tried not to hear that last comment; I loved my books and I would love to share my passion with other people but that's just Claire's opinion.

There was no place to think of, "I don't know where we could hide, Claire."

"Um, what about Stoney Falls, it's beautiful over there with the sound of the water crashing down and it's so... romantic."

"I know the real reason, you want to catch some Salmon there, don't you Claire?" I said jokingly.

"I definitely feel like some grilled salmon, wait maybe some grilled cheese?" says Claire back.

"Grilled Cheese! It's so good, it's an aspiration!" I joked. Then I thought about that person I knew who was crazy about grilled cheese, it was all he could think about, too bad I don't remember his name.

"Okay, so are we going to Stoney Falls?"

"Yeah, uh, sure it sounds like a plan."

. . .

By the time we arrived at Stoney Falls, the sun was setting; there was a beautiful bright orange hue in the sky. I was so happy that we are together. Claire and I just sat on the grass all night looking at the stars and just chatting about life and randomly about the Supernatural. The conversation gave me back repressed memories of the nightmare I had a couple of weeks ago, by gosh, the Supernatural, I am not a fan, a complete sceptic. I tried to change the conversation to something else, "Claire, do you want to kiss?" The looks on her face light up, "I never thought you'd ask."

Up the cold, black night sky, with shooting stars flying, I awkwardly attempted to kiss Claire, this is my first time and I was so nervous, thinking about it gives me a chill down my spine. I twist my head and move my head towards Claire's lips, the moment when I was going to impact felt like ages. As soon as our lips touched, the feeling was exhilarating; a surge of emotions went through me.

After it all happened, we just couldn't stop smiling, the feeling between us was different, something new. I couldn't realise what had just happened, in the moment it felt like a lifetime but after, it felt like seconds and speaking of seconds, I could not wait for some more. Claire looked at me, "So we finally did something new. I have had a good time but I need home soon, you probably do too. Well see-ya Mal." Claire then kisses me on the cheeks and disappears. She was right I needed to get home fast, it was already 10:00, if I'm not home by curfew, the police might arrest me!

I ran quickly to the road and I hopped on my bicycle and tiringly rode quickly to my mansion up the hill, constantly checking for any signs of the law enforcement.

. . .

The next day, Wednesday, three days until the dreaded hearing, when I arrived at school, I noticed Claire and Bella talking to each other, the Claire whispers something into Bella's ear and she starts giggling, "Oh that's sweet, Claire, he reminds me of Morty." I knew exactly what they were talking about, about yesterday! How could she do this? This was our moment, our time together and there she goes spilling the beans to Bella.

I wish I could turn back time and changed that but there's nothing to worry about, I'm just being a worry-wart again and at least she was only telling Bella, not the world but then Bella would tell about it to Mortimer, who would tell everything, I need to stop this train wreck!

During recess, I confront Claire, "How could you go telling Bella that, about last night!"

I needed to not make a scene so I lowered my voice.

"We're friends Malcolm, that's what we do; we tell each other things that others shouldn't know and we keep them secret!"

"Oh."

"You probably tell Robbie Kauker some things." Claire remarked.

"Actually I don't, he been too wrapped up in his music."

"I thought he like building robots?" Claire asks.

"I guess he found another passion of his."

"But then you would tell Arlo."

"I would but he would get a little too excited."

"Then who?" Claire asks again.

"Frances J. Worthington II. He arrived last week." "Oh he's the new guy, I never paid enough much attention in class."

"He's rich but doesn't say anything about it."

"Then where does he live?"

"I think he lives far away and he's staying at a house temporarily."

"Wants to be the CEO of his company, Worthington Co. They make teddy bears and he only really cares about money."

"So why don't you tell him?" "There's no point and I don't feel like it."

"Why not?"

"I wouldn't want to annoy you anyway and there are other things on my mind."

"Let me guess, the hearing? Don't worry about it Malcolm, it will be all under control."

"That's easy for you to say."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're not part of hearing; it's not your problem."

"Yes it is! If it's your problem, it's my problem too. All you think about is yourself, what about us!?"

"I'm not selfish!"

"Sometimes you are, Malcolm."

"Well everyone selfish at times."

"Your right, we should stop arguing."

For the rest of the day we kept our promise to stop arguing, so we just talked, about things, sometimes about school and reminiscing our past.

. . .

Thursday, two more days til the hearing; Claire kept reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. I talked to Frances J. Worthington II, he said that he lives in Strangetown, that he works secretly for the government and that teddy bears are just a cover. "But still are you sure you want to become a CEO?" I ask.

"On my life, I'm sure, Mr Landgraab." He replies properly back.

"See I'm just not sure yet, it feels my parents, well my Mother is shoving it down my throat, that I am the successor to her... of Landgraab Industries."

"Don't worry, Malcolm, it will feel right in due time."

"But it doesn't feel like that at all, I just want to live a normal life and learn knowledge, as knowledge power, I want to be happy, money doesn't buy happiness."

"It may not but just do want you want. I'm not trying to follow my parents; I feel that this is my passion."

"I'm a different case, okay... I just feel really confused about the situation."

. . .

The next day was Friday, one more day, just one more day til the hearing and my parents were coming home today after their trip from Sunlit Tides. I wasn't excited about them coming home; I was having too much fun with Claire, especially after that moment at Stoney Falls.

Butler Berjes didn't have anything bad to say about me as I had done nothing wrong. At five o'clock Mother and Father came back from their trip, instead of being dressed in formal clothing, they were wearing Hawaiian shirts, oh the horror!

"So Malcolm, what mischief have you been up to?"

"Nothing. I haven't done much when you were away."

"Butler! How was Malcolm?"

"Um, Sir he was good, had not done a slight thing wrong, except come home one day a bit late but he told me the truth about what had happened. Sir."

"Was he partying?"

"No not at all Sir, he was with his friend Claire Ursine."

"Where?"

"Uh, Sir shouldn't you ask Master Landgraab these questions?"

"Your right."

"Malcolm, where you on the night you came late?" "I was at Stoney Falls, why does it matter?"

"Well if I didn't know, you could have been at jail or at the criminal warehouse locked up!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, just worried about tomorrow."

"It will be fine Malcolm, my best lawyers are on the case, slander is an easy case to win but sometimes it doesn't turn out."

"Alright, it will be fine, so, uh how was your trip to Sunlit Tides?"

"It was amazing Malcolm, it was like heaven on Earth, the sun, sand and it really renewed my found love with your Mother." "Father, I don't want to know the details."

"It was relaxing and there were lots of pools to jump in. We meet one couple who were on their honeymoon." "Who was it?"

"Daniel and Mary-Sue."

"What about their last names?"

"I, we can't remember."

Soon dinner came and Mother and Father talked about how relaxing beautiful Sunlit Tides was. Ironically that was the place where Mr Anderson's parents disappeared, despite this I wouldn't mind taking Claire and I there for a trip. By the sounds of that I couldn't wait.

Tomorrow was the hearing, I couldn't sleep. Are we going to win or not?


	14. The Hearing

**Chapter 14: The Hearing**

Today was the day of the hearing, Judgement Day. The hearing was at the Town Hall, Mother wanted to make us arrive in style so instead of driving there, we rode in luxurious black limousines. "Alright, today is the day we shine, so look good and rock that look, we don't want to be publicly disgraced," Mother told us.

The limousines arrived at the Town Hall, already the paparazzi was swarming us and were asking questions, "So do you think you're going win the case?" "What do you think about VJ?" "Do think this is fair, Mr Landgraab?" The questions were endless, our lawyer just told us to answer questions so we don't look bad.

We finally entered the court room, Judge Judy called out to everyone to arise and to my left was VJ Alvi, his father and Miraj. The jurors of the trial was; Morgana Wolff, Gobias Koffi, Molly French, Monika Morris and Cycl0n3 Sw0rd. All of these Sims were just unknown to me; I have never seen them in town.

The judge called out our names and explained what the case was; she asked us questions, in a very harsh tone, "Is it true that you made these claims, Mr Landgraab?"

"No, your honour."

"Are you sure? You know that you are under oath."

"Yes, I am sure."

"Don't treat me with disrespect Mr Landgraab." She shouted.

"Oh, sorry your honour."  
"You better be..." Judge Judy muttered.

Our lawyer stood up, "Your honour, I have proof that the accused Mr Landgraab did not cause harm."

"Show me it." The Judge demanded.

"Ah, it's a testimony."

"Bring her in."

Claire entered the room wearing her beautiful purple dress. I couldn't stop staring at her but then I glanced at VJ and he was staring too, I felt angry, how can he look at my girlfriend like that?

Claire slowly walked in looking nervous, the smile on her face was half happy, half distraught. I tried to look at her, to reassure her but she was too busy soaking up what was about to happen. She stepped into the chair. The lawyer then laid questions on her, "Were you there when Mr Alvi was attacking Mr Landgraab?" The Lawyer asked.

"I was there during the fight." Claire answered.

"What happened during this fight? Who started it?"

"Well VJ started it; when he threw an apple at the amethyst that Malcolm was going to give but the apple hit it and the amethyst smashed to the ground. Malcolm got furious."

"So it was my client who started the fight." The lawyer asked looking shocked.

"Yes, he started it; he threw the first piece of food that would spark a war."

"A war?" The lawyer asked inquisitively.

Claire had said too much and made the incident more badly than it already was, I wish I could have told Claire not to over exaggerate things.

"Not a war but a complication arose."

"So slander?" The lawyer asked.

"Um, well VJ did say some really hurtful things to Malcolm; he never said anything mean back though."

"So you're blaming my client for EVERYTHING?" The lawyer shouted.

"Objection! The defendant is being argumentative to the witness." My lawyer called out to the judge.

"Sustained. John, don't shake up the witness." Replied the judge loudly.

"Okay, so Mr Landgraab didn't do much to my client." The lawyer asked calmly.

"Other than defending himself no, he did not do much."

I thought to myself, _Claire was always defending me and I never appreciated it._ She was telling the truth, I had nothing wrong to VJ but he just wanted to stir up trouble.

"Everyone we are now going into Recess, the jury will present their verdict on the case." Said the judge.

Everyone was puzzled why Recess was called so early, had he already made his mind on the case? The jurors couldn't leave the building let alone the room they stayed in. I wonder what they are thinking? Who's going to win? No-one knew, the paparazzi were all over us when we exited the court.  
"So Malcolm, who do you think is going to win?" asked John Burrows, who worked for SimNation National News.

"I don't know, it's really up to what the jurors decide on the case, I hardly even know them, if VJ wins he wins, it's not my choice, as long as there is solid evidence and fairness, then sure, if I win, well I don't know, I guess I've won but all I want is to end this problem, once and for all." I replied to the reporter soaking up every word I say.

"So to you, it doesn't matter?" The reporter asked.

"No, it does John; I've been worried about it all week." I replied; only a couple of seconds later regretting what I just said.

"About who will win or not?"

"A little but also what will happen afterwards, if it's going to be smooth sailing or a rough way down", I sighed, "I just never have had something like this happen before, something that I somewhat played a role in affected the whole family, it feels like a burden that I have to fix." I answered.

Ten minutes later, the court was back in session, the verdict was about to be given, it took five minutes to get everyone inside and seated.

"Can the accused rise, and the jurors will rise to present their verdict on the case." The judge said sternly.  
VJ, his family and his lawyer stood up, he was the one that did most of the talking. I couldn't believe the moment that I was waiting for was about to end in a few minutes, I could feel my heart beating faster and faster as the moment got closer and to a close.

Then Morgana Wolff stands up, "We find that this case is hard one to decide on, with both parties had good and solid arguments, but one stood out on us because it was the truth and as a group we have decided that..."


	15. The Verdict

**Chapter 15: The Verdict**

"We find that this case is hard one to decide on, with both parties had good and solid arguments, but one stood out on us because it was the truth and as a group we have decided that no-one because both parties evidence was insufficient and the case seems pointless," announced Morgana.

We were shocked, no-one won! The look on VJ's face was priceless, he was so sure that he was going to win but we all lost. It really didn't matter about winning, as long as VJ stopped attacking me but who knows if that will really happen.

"Bugger, we didn't win!" snared Mother.

"It doesn't matter, as long as the point is across," I replied.

"It doesn't look good in the news, Malcolm."

"Who cares about the media, it's not like people read the newspaper they get sent anyway."

"People do, people all across SimNation!" Mother shouted.

"Well, all I see is the paper rotting on the front porch!" I said back.

Somehow the line I just said stopped the argument between Mother and myself, I was still angry at her because she is trying to force me into owning Landgraab Industries. Father was the opposite of Mother; he has never really forced me into anything.

I shook hands with VJ, "So no-one won, aye?" I said with a smile.

VJ looked depressed, "Yeah," he spoke in a monotonous voice.

I could see right through him, he really wanted to prove a point, about what though? It was probably about beating me.

"What's wrong?" I asked VJ.

"Nothing, none of your business." VJ again replied in a stern, annoyed, monotonous voice.

"Seriously, what's wrong? Is it because you lost?"

"Today is the day my Mother left us."

I was dazzled, I never knew about this, "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't know that. So why did she leave?"

"I don't know, Dad never really told us," he then cried, "that's why I've been bugging him even since."

I felt empathic towards VJ, he needed some care, he is at an uncertain point in his life so he's been bullying me because I seem to have a better life than him.

"So have you been bullying me because your mother left you?" I asked impatiently.

"I have, it just looks like the only option I have to deal with it."

"But it isn't, you could just tell your father."

"You don't understand! Dad and I aren't really close and Miraj is always breaking up our fights."

I never knew that VJ was going through such a rough time, it made me think about my own life and how lucky I was. But because of this uncertainty does that justify his actions? Was it right to throw food and break the amethyst and hurt me and torment me with harsh words? No, didn't think I could forgive VJ yet but I still wanted to hear more about his story.

"Come your father's here, just tell him." I said comfortingly.

"Alright but, but why are you helping me? I was the one that was mean to you." VJ questioned.

"Well I don't want us to stay enemies forever." I stated.

"Fine. But do not speak of this. Ever." He agreed.

"So you will go up to him and ask him?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I just need to find him."

. . .

After VJ found his father, he spilled the beans on what he said to him. I was excited, all that tension between us seemed... gone.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He, um, he honestly gave it to me straight, he said, 'it's time I told it to you straight, our relationship was not going too well after two kids... We just couldn't connect anymore. Your mother said I had changed, I said that she had changed and it just went backward from there.'"

"Backward from there? Did your father go into any more detail?"

"Um, well he did, he said he tried to fix it but nothing worked and so my Mother left and she has never ever tried to come back and my Father was devastated that she left 'us' with Dad but he moved on with it."

"I'm sorry to hear that but at least you finally got your answers." I apologised.

"But it took so... long just for him to say that? It isn't really that hard!" VJ shouted.

"But if it is about something you care about it is." I replied back to VJ remark.

"Alright! I was wrong. So Malcolm, I like to say thanks for talking to me."

"It's okay." I said back.

"No, it really helped me, so no more being enemies?"

"I would like that, VJ. I'm sick of our arguments."

It finally happened, our fighting and harassment was put to an end. I didn't know what to do celebrate or just not tell anyone? I decided to tell Claire anyway and she already knew that no-one won the case, so what the heck, she's my girlfriend and I didn't want to keep secrets from her.

. . .

I rode my old bike to her white house by the beach, her mother was standing outside at the front porch, and it looked like she was expecting me.

"Claire! The feud against VJ and I is over!"

"Is it really?" Claire's Mother asks.

"Yes, uh Mrs Ursine, it has." I said back calmly.

"Um, can I enter your house, Mrs Ursine?" I asked nervously.

"Sure Malcolm, I'll call your mother for you." Claire's mother said assertively.

I entered the white house and went straight up the green carpeted stairs that looked like an alien had puked on it. After climbing the stairs, I took a right down the hall way and to the second door on the left, that was straight passed the yellow weaved bookshelf was Claire's room with the single bed.

Claire was sitting on her bed reading, "Why do Vampires Suck?"

"When did 'you' start reading?" I asked when she said she hates books.

The lemon paint started to hurt my eyes for the first time. I think I was just shocked that Claire was reading.

"Well after the trial, I saw everyone reading, so I thought 'what the heck I should try it too.' And so I did, amazingly reading is actually fun!" Spoke Claire smiling gleefully.

"Well Claire, I came here to tell you something." I spoke shyly.

"What is it, Malcolm?"

"I'm not enemies with VJ anymore. It's over, done and dusted."

"That's great, finally you don't have to be worried about something."

"I am not a worry-wart."

"Yes you are, you always have to be worried about something, can't you just be carefree?"

We were starting to have an argument. It did not look good where this is going.

"I've got important things in my life happening, not like you." I said in a snarky tone.

"How is not missing a dad important or how I feel!?" Claire ferociously shouted back.

I just stormed out, not wanting hear another word of her problems, and as if she was going hear mine either. When I was riding my bike, the anger just seemed to boil inside of me. I stormed inside of the house and oddly no-one noticed me stomping around anger, I thought sleeping it off would make everything better; I just wanted to avoid confrontation at that moment.

. . .

After getting some sleep, I woke up refreshed and ready for the easy Sunday morning. It was a wet and gloomy day, it was raining! Puddles began forming on the paving, I dressed into my Outerwear outfit and jumped and splashed into the puddles.

A few minutes later my Mother shouted, "Malcolm! Get back inside or you'll get sick!"

"Just wait!" I replied back.

After jumping in the puddles, I got bored so I read some books on my MultiTab 4000. Then I receive a phone call from Claire, what could it be? I answered it, "Malcolm! Why did you treat me with disrespect yesterday..." The phone call ended, she was mad and I needed to fix this right away.

Amidst the rain pouring down, I rode my bike down to Claire house as fast as I could without sliding out of control. As soon as I had arrived, I ran inside the front porch of the house and knocked on the soaking wet.

Claire opened the door, as soon as she saw me, "I don't want to talk to you," and she slams the door, I didn't even get the chance to say 'wait'.


	16. Fixing It Up

**Chapter 16: Fixing It Up**

"Wait Claire! I'm sorry for what said!" I shouted from the front porch.

There was no response, typical; I could be waiting here for hours. I knocked on the door again, "Come on Claire! I didn't mean to offend you, as you know I can be a little selfish sometimes!"

She still wouldn't listen no matter how hard I tried. After two hours I decided to leave, I have had enough; I'll see her at school anyway. That was when I would get my chance.

As I rode back, the rain got worse and thunder could be heard, that only meant one thing... Lightning! I had forgotten my umbrella at home, so when I arrived home I was soaked, I came inside the house making puddles everywhere. "Malcolm! Clean up this mess!" My Mother shouted. I sighed; I have had one rough day.

. . .

Today was the second chance I got with Claire, she refused to answer with me yesterday and now that she has slept on it, maybe it is not as dramatic as seemed. As usual I took the yellow school bus to school. I was expecting Claire to be here today so I plead again to her.

I found Claire happily by her locker talking to Bella, as soon as Claire saw me, she had scornful look. "Claire! Listen to me, I know I said some harsh things, I want make up with you, I love you, I don't want our relationship to be like this," I called out. There was no response from Claire; she was giving me the typical 'silent treatment'.

I couldn't just ignore her; I had to do something... "Claire, could you please forgive me? I shouldn't have done something that would hurt you." She put up her hand near my face and walked off with Bella. I had been rejected once again. I didn't know how I could fix this, mere words seemed not to do it; I needed to think of something bigger.

. . .

I wasn't able to think of any ideas to at school, so I thought I could do it at home, careful planning had to occur, I didn't want it to go awry. There are so many ideas but which would really capture Claire's heart? I could go fishing at the Landgraab Science Facility, something she loves and has begged me to take her but that wouldn't cut it. _"I could go to a show? There's one at Central Park, a Singer's performing, Mick Mastley,"_ I thought,_ "But what about a movie? Symphony? Concert? A Football Game? A vacation? What if we go pranking again, that was a lot of fun but whom would we prank and how?"_

Too many ideas were running through my head, none of them seemed enough, I had to make her feel special, make her forgive me. There was no-one I could really talk to. I suddenly then realised that I could talk to Mortimer. He's good with Bella, they are the town couple and nothing will and can break them apart.

I called Mortimer on my mobile, see if he would reply and he was, "Hey."

"Who's this?" Mortimer asked.

"Ah, it's me Malcolm, Malcolm Landgraab." I spoke in a subtle tone.

"Oh, yes, hey Malcolm, why did you call me? Is there anything wrong?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well I have been having troubles with Claire. I need some advice." I said ashamed.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Bella does it to me all the time when I said something completely stupid." Mortimer said calmingly, to try and reassure me and somehow knew what was going on.

"It's just that I have never stuffed up anything this bad before. I really don't know what to do." I told Mortimer in a nervous voice.

"You're going to have to make it to her, it probably has to be special to her, remember a relationship isn't a one way street, I learnt that the hard way." Mortimer laughed, he thought his last line was hilarious but to me it was advice.

As Mortimer told me more about their relationship it seemed that no-body is the perfect couple, it drifted away in my mind that Bella and Mortimer were always happy but that was only a façade, it made me wonder that, I am not in that bad of a position with Claire nor is Bella and Mortimer but more or less that love is a confusing thing.

"Alright thanks Mortimer, the only problem now is what to do." I said to Mortimer gratefully.

"No problem, Malcolm, what are you coming to my party this weekend?" He asked.

"No, what party? No-one's told me about this." I told Mortimer confused.

"Really? On the weekend is a party at my place, you and Claire are invited, there will be food, drinks, music." He advertised to me.

"Sure we'll go. Just have to ask Claire first." I responded.

We ended the phone call, the advice helped a little bit but I still don't know what to do, it really could be anything in Sunset Valley.

. . .

Tuesday was not the perfect day, the forecast predicted that a thunderstorm was coming; it really showed that winter is coming with the drop in temperatures. I decided to postpone the date til Wednesday, it was the safer option.

It did not rain in the morning luckily, Claire was here at school but she still refused to listen until I said with a slight smile, "Claire, I know you won't listen to me but just hear me out, I have something very special planned for you for tomorrow, I can't tell you what it is, you just going to have to wait and find out, it will be a day you'll never forget, I can promise that!"

I knew that it worked by the look on her face and the loud whispers she told Bella and Cora Francisco during lunch time.

Still I had to think of the plans, what I should do for Claire; I decided to go to a symphony, which is something she's not gone to before, it is something that is truly mesmerising, the sights and especially the sounds and maybe after that, we'll have a little dinner... I don't know how things will go from there.

. . .

The next day, I was excited about my plans and I knew that Claire would be hysterical about the concoction I have planned but the only problem now is to execute it well. She finally started talking to me but only really asked about what was going to happen tonight.

After school, the time to do everything right was now on. Without a second to lose, I quickly grabbed Claire and took her down to Wilsonoff Community Theatre.

"Where are you taking me?" Claire asked confused.

"You'll see." I said with a smirk on my face.

We went inside; you could already hear the soothing classical music playing, I had hired out the symphony for just the two of us, so there was no trouble in us getting comfortable. The atmosphere was like heaven, all around was beautiful music that captured the beauty of us as a couple.

Claire's face lit up for the first time to classical music, the rawness of the music, showed as if it was not weird and torture but something else...

But there was no point spending hours and hours listening, we had other places to go, this wouldn't be enough to make amends to Claire. We exited the theatre, it was hailing, not the perfect day to go out and eat. We decided to eat inside the packed, Little Corsican Bistro. A fine lady needs to eat high-class and Hogan's Deep Fried Diner is too cheap for the standards I'm looking for.

Inside the crowded Bistro, Claire and I munched on some Lobster Thermidor and for dessert; we had some heavenly Baked Angel Food Cake. I nearly choked on the food but it was a close call, Claire and I had a chat about life, things that have been going on, it felt really relaxing. It was the first time in ages that we spent time on ourselves, I'm not trying to selfish but it was something that was needed.

The next thing I had planned was to go to Landgraab Industries Science Facility and let Claire fish for Robot Fish, Claire had been begging me to do this since... well forever.

"Where are we going next?" Claire asked, knowing that there was more.

"A place, I know that I have to take you to." I said smiling, hinting a suggestion to where I was taking her.

We quickly arrived at 2 Pi R Cilium Lane, the Landgraab Science Facility. Claire and I both ran out to the back gate where it was unlocked by security for us, Claire was ecstatic, this was the only place to Robot Fish in the whole of Sunset Valley.

"Malcolm, I can't thank you enough, I'll go catch some fish for my mother," Claire spoke in a high, elated pitch, some of the fish we caught were 200kg each! By the time we were done, it was nearly 8:00pm, I had one last thing to do, something special.

"Claire?" I asked.  
"What Malcolm?" Claire replied.

"I... I need to show you something?" I said embarrassed, scared what was going to happen next.

"What is it?" She questioned, started to get annoyed as her tone went higher.

I pulled out my grey Sonaflux Guitar, after weeks of practice, I tried my best attempt at swooning my love to Claire, I had tried serenaded her. My song was mellow, 12-beat melody, it sounded awful in my ears but in Claire's ears, the sound didn't matter, it was the meaning behind it.

Singing was not my cup of coffee, so instead Claire started making up her own words to the song, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me, the words had no meaning but it went with the song but as long as Claire was having fun, it's okay to me.

Instead of trying to be romantic, it became funny as Claire started to do the Smustle to the beat of the beat of the slow, relaxing song.

As soon as I stopped, Claire came rushing at me, faster than a cheetah, to hug me, she had appreciated all the effort I had taken to do this. I took her home, I stood at the front porch, where only three days earlier I was rejected and shouted at by Claire. But today was different, she asked me if I wanted to come inside, I insisted I leave as it was getting late.

"I have to go." I told Claire.

"Don't leave; I want to be by your side." She tried arguing her way out of me leaving.

"I serious, my parents will kill me otherwise."

"Alright you can go, as long as I can give you a goodbye kiss..."

Claire stepped outside and kissed me tenderly on the lips, I couldn't let go off her hot red lips, only after five minutes I had finally left to go home, when the weather was clear, a first in Sunset Valley for a while now as it is Autumn/Fall.

. . .

On Thursday Claire couldn't stop thanking me for last night, she had finally gotten over our argument, so everything was finally in the clear and my relationship with Claire has never been stronger than ever.

I finally told Claire about the party at the Goth household, she freaked out about the idea that she was invited, I would advise thought otherwise with Bella being her friend but oh well at least we're going and that Claire's happy about it.

I asked my parents and they agreed, what could Mortimer Goth do? I was allowed to go; nothing could hinder my excitement for what happening on Saturday. I felt carefree; there was nothing to worry about except for fun!


	17. The Party

**Chapter 17: The Party**

Saturday was soon arriving, with the Goth household now put on show; I dressed causal and took Claire to the party in a yellow and green taxi.

From a couple of blocks away, you could already hear the blaring Pop music, something I dislike but not everyone likes Classical anyway. Claire was already smiling and humming to the music, she was excited as this is her first social event she's been too. My experience has been quite terrible, it was just adults talking about non-sense stuff; business, the weather, nothing of interest and importance, it was only and all small talk, there was dancing and drinks but no-one seemed to pay attention to that.

But this party is different, it is chaotic, not at all civil, teenagers running amok, having fun and shouting 'Party Hardy', whatever that was about. I glanced at Claire, she just shrugged, even she didn't understand it what it meant either but I needed something to do so I nodded, "Let's dance." I ask her. She accepts and to terrible pop music, we do some romantic slow dancing compared to the fast moves the others around us are pulling. Time slowed down, it felt like we were all alone. Claire looked intently into my eyes, we are so different to one another but somehow she understands me, helps me through my problems, the red haired girl with freckles; my girlfriend.

I kissed her tenderly, something we hadn't done in a while, after all the arguments and fighting, things were finally starting to kick off. Mortimer appeared to me, "Thanks for coming to my, my party." His stutter implied that his was mesmerised by the mess created by all the guests; if this had happened to me, I would be furious, as I'm the only one who'd clean it up.

Claire was having a good time without me, eating cakes, jelly and a big turkey , having some drinks, dancing, she did the quite opposite to me. All I did was play chess at the chess table at the back of the house. Mortimer was sick of the party so he played with me too while both of our girlfriends had fun for themselves as they had both requested. They both danced and talked away while we avoided it all.

"So Bella wanted have fun by herself?" I ask Mortimer.

"Well yeah." He scratches his head, feeling like he made a mistake.

"Don't worry, I did the same thing, nothing will go wrong," I reassured him.

"It will, tomorrow they'll complain that we weren't with them!" Mortimer fired back at me.

I tried calming him down a little, "Maybe you're right but there's nothing we can do now anyway."

We went back to our chess game, I was clearly winning but Mortimer seemed to deny it. He was trying very hard to win against me, it made wonder what his logical skill was as I was about to checkmate him.

"Checkmate." I call out.

"Wait, what?" He questioned.

"Your king has nowhere to move, I've taken him down." As soon as I said that thunder came roaring into life with the world of Sunset Valley starting to rain. Mortimer was trying to rework his steps but he was concentrating too much about Bella, as usual.

It seemed that he did not care about the party he was holding or the rowdy house guests ruining the place with spoilt food and drinks. "Um, what do your parents think about holding this party?" I ask.

"My parents don't care too much, as long as the place is clean which won't take too long."

I walk down to the door and peer into the lounge, the place is a mess, puddles and grime all over. _Yeah won't take too long, I_ think to myself.

Mortimer then teases me to play another game of chess with him; I already knew he was going to lose.

"So why you aren't at the party?" I ask. He's hosting the party without actually hosting it.

"I found out that partying isn't my thing, is that the same reason you're here?" He answers and flings the question back at me.

"Yeah, it is, Pop music is not my style, Classical is." I tell him.

"Really? Because it's funny that Classical is my favourite too. It's the violin that so soothing but it can also sound like fingernails across a chalkboard." Mortimer agrees to something I like, finally.

"The thin line between beautiful and ugliness." I point out.

"Contrast." He tries to correct me.

I look down at the board and realise that he's finally winning; he's distracted himself from Bella and distracted me from the game. I could counter his move but it just seems unfair, otherwise there will be no next game.

"What do I call out when I win?" He asks, not remember what I said, which felt like only minutes before.

"Checkmate." I call out.

"Well checkmate. I win." He finally wins; hopefully he won't start to brag.

"Another game?" I ask, wanting to definitely win the next one.

"Sure, losers go first." He says with a smug look.

5 minutes later, I completely knock all his pieces off the board and checkmate him. Again he was astonished at how I beat him, all I said was, "practise."

He knew what I had meant, I became worried that I have turned him into a chess monster until he talked about science which completely caught me off guard, how could the word 'Goth' be related to science, the word refers to the past, a type of architecture, grotesque, all of which have nothing to do with the now and the future.

. . .

Only after three hours, word got out that the Police were on their way to hear a public disturbance call. The party just went into damage control. Mortimer tried to calm everyone down but nothing worked, instead everyone just ran out of all of the doors and windows that were in the house, in a matter of moments everyone was gone. Bella, Mortimer, Claire and I were the only ones left, I checked the time, it was getting late, 9:00pm.

"Well we better leave before the Police take us home after curfew." I tell everyone.

"Okay, you can't go towards home using the roads though, they might spot you." Bella advised us.

Mortimer took us to the back entrance that leads towards the Pleasant Rest Graveyard, a place that was definitely not pleasant, with some of my deceased relatives there, I had to avoid it.

"Oh, I forgot, thanks for coming to my party." Mortimer tells us as we leave, even though he had said that to us earlier.

"Not a problem." Claire and I said simultaneously.

"Claire, is there somewhere else we could go?" I ask.

The rain stopped pouring down. "We could go to Simhenge." Claire suggests.

"Simhenge? I've never heard of this place before." I start thinking if there is any sort of significance to me of this place.

"Well it's one of Sunset Valley's hidden gems." She says with a smirk.

I made me wonder what Sunset Valley other gems are, that I don't know about.

We both climbed up the massive hill towards Simhenge. It's a magnificent stone structure that is a ring of stone pillars, historians and archaeologists are baffled at how it was built and the use of the place, which are placed all across SimNation. The flowers were blooming even though it was dark. No lights to see anything out here.

"It's beautiful. How did you know about the place?" I asked in complete awe of the view of Sunset Valley from here.

"My mother took me here to catch butterflies. Some of the rare ones are here. It was a place to relax, especially when my mother attempted to deal with having me as a child and dumping my father." She remembers.

"You still don't know who he is." I tell her.

"I may not know his name, but he is an arrogant, senseless and a person who lacks ambition, has no decency to take care of ME!" Claire voice raised in anger of her father, she was getting angry over someone she doesn't even know about, other than what her mother tells her, which is biased.

Claire then decided we both go watch the stars together, to calm her down; we didn't have time to kill but what the heck. We look at the shooting stars that ran across, until I spotted something strange. I had spotted a meteor flying down crashing into Stoney Falls. "We have to go down and see it." I state.

"Fine, just be quick." She agrees.

And quick we were. We both ran down the hill towards the giant stone monolith. It was massive, I wish I could analysis what type of space rock it was but I have no idea, it looked like to be worth several thousands of Simoleons, something that Claire's mother needs but it would look silly when Claire comes home with a big wad of cash with no explanation at all. The meteor was tall compared to a Sim and was also very wide compared to a small table; I had no idea what we are going to do with it.

Soon after we arrived, reporters came wanting the latest news. Claire and I answered their mundane questions, like what were you doing here, how did you find this and we were allegedly to appear on the Monday morning news, not Sunday news, this is because no-one really watches the news on the weekends, everybody knows that. That only posed one problem; our parents would know where we've been. It's not like our faces are unrecognisable. A blonde haired boy and a red-haired girl, we're simply unmistakeable.

We have to think of something quickly. But Claire doesn't want to; you could already see it in her brown eyes.

"Don't worry Malcolm; we got tomorrow to think about what to do."

"Well Claire, take care. I'll think about it over the night" I tell her.

"Goodbye Malcolm." She gives me a tender kiss on the cheek, giving me reassurance that everything will be okay.

After the incident I rushed home to avoid being home too late, 10:00 wasn't too bad after the climbs up and down the hill, my parents were just happy that I was home. I was just happy that they weren't angry. I ran up to my bedroom, I was tired after what just happened, the party, running down the hill and talking to the reporters, I've had a jam-packed day.

Tomorrow is when we think about what to do about the television incident, why couldn't they have played it on today, it would have so much easier, with my parents' home, we never really watch that much television. Oh, but there's nothing I can do now.


	18. Consequences, Consequences

**Chapter 18: Consequences, Consequences **

Soon it was Sunday, I met up with Claire at her house, we had to discuss about our plan to hide the news from our parents. Claire said it would a little bit harder for her but I just said to break it so it can't be used.

She had no idea how to break the television so she just flicked the television off and on. It quickly broke with sparks flying out and a fuzzy screen. That was Claire's half sorted, so what about me, I could just turn it off as the television is in the most inconvenient place, especially when it's a frantic rush to get out of the house and go to work and school.

The plan was so simple that it couldn't fail; it took a bit of stress off my shoulders. Instead of doing my homework, I just stared at Claire. She didn't seem to mind or notice; I just kept admiring my girlfriend. She means the world to me, the only person that I can find in Sunset Valley that gives me joy.

Now I had to get back to work, Claire is now more a distraction to me than before. Everything between us, it's so complicated, before she told how she felt about me, we were just good friends, I don't remember having any sort of attraction to Claire, it was only when she told, I started to feel it. Slowly at first but now it's a part of me, no chance separating us, there's no thought of it in my mind, even after the couple of fights and complications we've had, our relationship is stronger than ever.

After doing our homework, I was getting a little bored being stuck at Claire's house.

"What should we do?" I asked Claire.

"Hmm," she starts taping on the desk, "Well we could, um, watch some television?" She remarks.

"Ha, ha, very funny, we could... except you broke it," I told Claire with an uncontrollable laugh.

We both still had no idea of where to go; I had forgotten that I brought my Frisbee in my backpack.

"I have an idea. Both of us should play Frisbee," I state.

"Sure, I never really felt like going out," replies Claire.

"But we are, we're going OUTside!" I remark with a smile across my face.

I pull out the blue Frisbee out of my backpack and quickly throw to the general direction of Claire. To my surprise she caught Frisbee and soon it was heading my way... I completely missed and the Frisbee hit me in the head and knocked me round down to the floor.

Claire quickly ran to my aid, I woke up, dazed and confused soon realising that I was okay, Claire broke out in laughter.  
"That was the funniest thing I ever saw!" cried Claire still laughing.

I was the only not laughing, what would happen if Claire was the one who made the mistake, she wouldn't be laughing, I would. I just accepted it and moved on. Playing Frisbee started to get boring quite fast and again we were at the conundrum of deciding what to do next.

We just stared at the beautiful and vivid orange sunset coming down; I asked Claire, "Why don't we go swimming, in the ocean?"

"Why not?" She asked me.

"Okay let's go get ready then."

I got changed in the bathroom and Claire changed in her bedroom and across the road we were already at the beach. I felt the pristine yellow sand at my feet. Claire ran and waded into the water first. I walked slowly towards the ocean, I hadn't swum in a while, even though I have a pool in my house, I rarely use it; the only person who does use is my mother.

The cold ocean water made me shiver but it was a good feeling. We didn't stay there for long as the temperature was cooling down fast. With Sunset Valley being such a beach haven, nobody used the beach and when out boating either.

"That's because there's no pier," Claire responded when I asked the question.

"We should build one then."

"But where?" She asked.

"Um... I don't know, at, what's it called, ah that's it, Recurve Strand," I tried to remember.

"I guess that make sense."

It was getting late; already the time was 6:00PM, I had to leave to get home in time for dinner, I wonder what Butler Berjes would be cooking...

I kissed goodbye Claire, and rode off into the distance. The trip back was fine; I arrived home, half an hour later.

I walked into the house, nothing peculiar was happening. Father suddenly appears before me,  
"Hello Malcolm, good to see your home early." He spoke in a happy tone.

"Um, yeah, I was just in time for dinner, what's for dinner may I ask?" I replied.

"Um, it's Porcini Risotto."

"What's that? I never heard of it before." I asked feeling a little peckish.

"Onions, Mushroom in Risotto Rice."

"Oh, sounds interesting." I responded, curiously waiting to see what it looks and tastes like.

We had a scrumptious dinner; the mushroom thankfully didn't overpower the flavour of risotto or onions. Soon as dinner was over, I was tired enough to hop into bed and fall asleep fast. Except I didn't, I spend half an hour reading a novel, to get me even more tired. Which then I was so exhausted, I napped and then went into a deep sleep.

. . .

The next day I woke up ready for the day ahead, with the plan going ahead, I knew it was going to work; there were absolutely no doubts in my mind. The breakfast was fine as usual; everyone was busy doing their own thing. The bus as always arrived at 8:00AM.

As school as we got to school, I met up with Claire; we both had not a worry in the world, even though Claire always says that I've got something to worry about. This time was an exception and I had to prove that to her.

"Come on seriously, there has to be something wrong," Claire kept telling me.

"Well in the world, there always is something that is going wrong, it may affect or not, it may actually be somewhere far away around the world but right here, right now, I have nothing to worry about." I claimed to Claire.

"Are you sure, you're not worried about the plan, you know it could go wrong..."

"I'm 100% sure that it will work, its fool-proof." I kept trying to say to her and myself.

"But you can't just say that just going to work; remember what happened to the Simtanic?"

"Yeah, I just really don't feel like thinking about what will go wrong, it's that weird feeling..." I stuttered, she was completely defeating my point.

"Of worrying?" I she said with a cute smile.

"Well, yes sort of."

Claire finally understood, I thought she was playing me for a second. With things going wrong, it made me think of Murphy's Law. 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.' The best example of this is a Sim with a low cooking skill, cooks on the stove, most indefinitely it will catch fire and this is also proven by the statistics by the government that show fires from the stove are most common ways fires happen, the least, luckily is earthquakes. Earthquakes have never happened in Sunset Valley but have occurred in Twinbrook.

Anyway after thinking about earthquakes, school finished at 2:30PM. I caught the bus home, I didn't expect anyone home; father always comes late from the Hospital and mother comes home usually at 5:00PM. As soon as I arrived home, the unexpected had happened.

Mother was home, I could tell by the car in the curved driveway. I as soon as I entered the door, she was there ready to greet me.  
"Hello, Malcolm, my dear, I need to talk to you about something... It's kind of urgent." Mother told straight away, I knew my plan had been blown; she always puts on that royal accent. Mother then walked me into her secluded office.

"You could have told me that you were on television today."

"Was I really?" I replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes, it was Saturday when it happened, the meteor, right?" She asked me with her voice rising.

I scratched my head; I had to confess, "Yeah it was after the party, I was going to leave the party until I saw the thing."

"You lied to me!" Mother shouted at me.

"I didn't, I just didn't tell you...I didn't want to worry you." I calmly tell Mother.

"You know you are in trouble for this, I'm not letting this go." Mother stated to me clearly and firmly.

"What will it be?" I wondered then questioned.

"I will decide soon and don't you think it will just be you taking the blame, I'm calling Claire's mother right now." Mother said loudly, she was starting to raise her voice again.

"Um, don't you need their number?" I asked as she probably doesn't know the number.

"Don't worry, I've already have it." She said with a little laugh.


End file.
